Uncharted Desires
by kimmyluvschu
Summary: Mei is just your average weird fourteen year old. She is a deep thinker and tends to keep her thoughts to herself because of how unusual they are. Just how did she, out of all people in Twilight Town, get mixed up with the Organization! And what is drawing her to Roxas? What is Axel plotting up there in that brain of his? RoxasxOC (Don't like pairing? Don't read. Perfect logic.)
1. Chapter 1

**HELLO MY FABULOUS READERS...yeah, this happened. A new story. (.3.) Me ish sorry?  
This story has been sitting around my Doc Manager for awhile, I've just been too lazy to work on it. So I've decided to bring it out to the world! *flash* *flash* *sparkle* *sparkle*  
This story will not follow 358/2 Days exactly and some characters may be a bit off...but I'm trying here. I fell asleep multiple times trying to finish this first chapter.**

**YES I KNOW I HAVE JUST ADDED MORE STORIES TO THE LIST OF ON-GOING ONES I CURRENTLY HAVE. I DON'T CARE. *cries***

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts; if I did, Kingdom Hearts 5 would be coming out by now.**

* * *

**Mei's POV-**

"Mei-Mei!" I turned to see a brown-haired girl running towards me in the same uniform I'm wearing. Our uniform consisted of a dark blue and eminence purple plaid skirt with yellow suspenders, and an orange bow around our collar. We both had a red bow tied into a part of our hair. I had white thigh highs and my friend had white knee socks. Our school made us look like a rainbow...but without green. Our principle says it's to match some of the many shades of the twilight this town has. Something along those lines; I've grown to dose off during entrance ceremonies and ending ceremonies while the principle was giving his very long speech.

While I have your attention, I should explain my appearance to help your own imagination capture the world I see. I have long brown hair that flows down to the middle of my back, messy bangs, and multichromatic eyes consisting of light pink, a little yellow, and mint. Majority of my irises were mint colored though, the other part being light pink with some yellow. Oh, by the way, I'm fourteen, woohoo!... Not really.

"Yes Olette?," I smiled to my lovely companion.

"Wanna go out to Market Street?," she asked, leaning in front of me.

"Are they guys coming?," I asked.

She looked around confused, "They were here a second ago... Don't tell me they ditched us!" She ran off, mad, ready to hunt.

I sweat dropped.

_Us? I just got invited._

I sighed and started walking off to get some ice cream. Obviously, school ended. If I know my time management, Olette found the boys at the hideout by now and they're probably clothes shopping with her. She did have her eye on a pair of pants last time we went shopping. I'm usually on the dot with this kind of stuff.

"Three sea-salt ice creams please," I ordered, paying.

"Don't forget to pray you got a winner!," the ice cream man joked as I left with my bag full of ice pops. I headed to the clock tower to get some alone time away from the gang. I love them, but I need my space sometimes. I'm sure our "leader" won't mind. ... Oh who am I kidding, he's going to yell at me.

I sat down at a bench nearby the clock tower. I relaxed for awhile before I noticed a black speck on top of the clock tower. I narrowed my eyes to see someone sitting on the ledge. My eyes widened as I started running up into the clock tower through the main entrance.

_What the hell is that person doing? Suicide?! No one will die under my watch!_

I busted through the door, making sure I didn't fall off the ledge. I caught the attention of the black speck.

"It's not worth it!" I shouted, holding my hand out, catching my breath.

**.**

**.**

**.**

The person started laughing hard, as if understanding what I was saying. My face flushed, confused.

"You think I'm going to jump?! HAHAHA! Hilarious!" the person laughed. It was a male.

I puffed my cheeks and turned on my foot, "Well if you're not dying anytime soon, then I'll just take my leave."

"Wait!" he called out.

I turned my head to him, "What?"

"Can I have one?," he pointed. I followed his finger to the bag dangling in my hand. I looked between the two. "I'll let you have the luxury of eating with me till my friend comes."

I rolled my eyes, "What luxury would that be?"

"Being my new friend. The more the merrier after all."

_He's just going with anything isn't he!_

I could just feel him smiling under that hood of his. Why did he look so shady? Isn't he hot in that?! It's almost summer for pete's sake.

"F-Fine, but only because it's an honor that you are even in my presence," I said bashfully, flipping my hair with one hand for emphasis.

He laughed and patted the spot next to him; I nervously sat on the ledge.

_He isn't going to push me off...right?_

Once I felt secured enough, I took out two ice pops and handed one to him. We both ate in silence, watching the sunset.

"Hey Ax-" I turned to see another guy in a black cloak who seemed to have stopped in mid-sentence.

_His friend? Wonder what he was going to say..._

"Yo!" the man next to me greeted. I could just feel the new guy's eyes on me.

"Who's she?," the newbie whispered, most likely thinking I didn't hear. They're right next to me how can I not!?

"I don't know, but she had sea-salt ice cream!" the man next to me whispered back louder than a whisper would normally be.

_It's not even whispering anymore if you say it that loud!_

I cleared my throat, catching both of their attentions, "If my presence here is...bothersome. I'd be happy to leave."

_Then I can get some of that alone time I was going for._

"No it's fine. He's just shy around new people...just about everyone actually right now. Especially gir- OW!," the man next to me rubbed his side as the newbie elbowed him.

_He doesn't look that shy..._

I watched the two have a mini fight. The taller of the two was louder than the newbie who was softer than him. Once they quickly calmed down, well enough to the point where I could intervene without becoming apart of it, I handed the newbie the last ice pop. He took it and sat next to me. The three of us all watched the sunset together.

I looked at my wooden stick and frowned, "Not a winner."

"Same here," the man sighed.

We both looked at the newbie who just was about to finish his. He looked at his stick, then at us, shaking his head. I shoved the plastic wrapping into my bag, "I should be getting home. I have finals soon."

"You go to school?," the tall man asked, surprised.

I stared blankly at him, gesturing to my uniform. I got up as he finally noticed.

"I guess this is goodbye then," I smiled as the two other men stood.

"I doubt we'd see each other ever again," the tall man said. I glared a bit at him because that was just hurtful to say right in my face. "W-Well we don't go to school and we're sort of busy. Heh. Busy busy bees! Memorize that."

I laughed a bit, "I guess it'd be pointless to introduce ourselves then."

The tall man nodded quickly as the newbie just...stared at me from under the darkness of his hood. I would be lying if I said I wasn't happy to leave these shady-looking people.

I held my hand up, smiled, and waved, "Bye bye."

"How can you just smile when you say bye to people you'll never see again?," the tall man asked me.

"Because...," I rubbed my chin. "It's better to leave on a good note and not a bad one. Right? It's a better remembrance."

* * *

When I got home, I saw Olette and the gang in my room. Olette was holding a ruler in her hands, watching the boys finish their homework.

"Hi guys," I greeted casually.

_How did you guys get in?!_

"Where the hell have you been Mei!?," our fearless leader yelled, slamming his pencil down, glaring at me.

"I met some strangers," I said, sitting with my blond leader, Hayner, and my black-haired ally/partner in crime, Pence.

"I don't see pencils moving Hayner!" Olette yelled.

Pence and I exchanged a laugh as Hayner fearfully started writing at a fast pace.

* * *

School was filled with learning, lectures, work, studying, and all that unimportant stuff.

In order to get "forgiveness" from Hayner, I had to take Olette out on a shopping spree. My poor wallet...

"We should go to that new store near the pizza parlor!," Olette said with sparkles in her eyes. "Or that old antique shop."

I just smiled, nodding along to her wishes. I've been feeling...bored recently. A week to be specific enough. It feels like the same thing everyday, except for Hayner's "brilliant" ideas. I just feel like...I'm missing something. Is it weird to think that I feel like my fate is tied to those two strangers?... Haha, what am I saying. That's impossible. It just seems like something happened to me that made me realize how predictable things were slowly becoming around me.

* * *

The next day was no different of a school day.

"We should play baseball," Hayner shouted after school.

"There's only four of us. That's not enough," I nagged him.

"Who cares! We'll do a battle of the sexes!," he yelled, running off toward the baseball field.

The gang and I ran after him.

* * *

"That was a great effort Mei, Olette!," Hayner grinned, taking a bite out of his ice cream.

I groaned, rubbing my knee, "You're only saying that because you guys won."

"Don't be a sore loser Mei," Hayner patted my back.

"I'm not a sore loser," I mumbled, licking my ice cream.

"We should all have a study group tonight," Olette suggested.

We all groaned at that lovely reminder of our soon-to-be final.

* * *

Two weeks have passed and finals have come and gone. Now all we had to do was get through the last few days of school.

"What should we do over summer vacation?," Pence asked.

"Finish our summer assignment," I suggested as Pence and Hayner shuddered.

"We don't have time to do that so early! We should go to the beach! Go to the carnival! Go to the movies! We should learn how to jump from roof to roof," Hayner yelled.

_We'll never get the summer work done..._

We headed off to the park, talking about all the things, not school-related, we could do over vacation. I couldn't help but feel someone watching us.

"Olette, do you feel like we're being watched?," I whispered to her.

She nodded, "I thought it was just me."

"I smell teriyaki balls!," Pence shouted, following his nose.

"Wait for me!," Hayner ran after Pence, obviously starving.

I looked at Olette, "Craving any?"

"A bit," she blushed.

We ran after the boys, only to see Hayner yelling at someone.

"What's going on here?," I asked when we got to them.

"This punk didn't watch where he was going," Hayner pointed accusingly at the guy across from him.

I sighed, "That's all?"

"What's that suppose to-"

"Picking fights with people isn't ok," Olette pulled Hayner into the teriyaki shop that Pence was already in.

I turned to the guy Hayner was having a conflict with and bowed, "Sorry for Hayner's...special attitude. He gets mad easily." I dug into my pocket and pulled out enough money to buy sea-salt ice cream. I handed it to the guy, who was wearing a black cloak. "Sea-salt ice cream. On me." I waved bye and headed inside with my friends.

* * *

**Roxas's POV-**

"Where did you get that?," Axel asked me.

I looked at him, licking my ice cream, "A girl gave me the money for one."

"Who's she?," Axel smirked. "Your girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend?," I cocked my head to the side.

"Never mind. Where were you all day?"

"Exploring the town."

"You didn't get into any fights right?"

I thought about that blond guy from that group I was following around since somewhere in the afternoon.

"Nope."

_One of those girls looked really familiar...but I can't remember where I've seen her or her name... Have I met her before?_

I had a strange feeling in my gut that I met her somewhere before, no where recently; possibly, that first week I joined the Organization for that week was still a blur to me.

* * *

**Mei's POV-**

"It's the last day of school!" I cheered in the morning before class.

"We're still going to party right?," Pence asked,

"Of course!" Olette, Hayner, and I yelled simultaneously.

"Everyone has their supply list right?," Olette asked. We all nodded. "After school, we all change our clothes, split up, and get the things on our list then meet back at the hideout."

"We know. Geez Olette, cool it," Hayner crossed his arms.

She stomped her foot and puffed her cheeks.

* * *

I changed into a yellow sundress with brown combat boots, tying up my hair with a red ribbon. I then embarked on my journey to get the things on my list.

_Two twenty packs of sea-salt ice cream, check! Two bags of sour candy, check! And finally, the latest Just Dance game!_

I dropped everything in the hangout, putting the ice cream in the freezer. I crashed on the couch, exhausted from lugging all that around.

We partied hard once everyone came and overdosed on sea-salt ice cream and other food, mainly the ice cream.

* * *

My gang was busy visiting family, so I was going to be alone for the week. The first week of summer too! I wandered around by myself. I looked at the clock tower.

_Why do I feel like going there?_

I then remembered those strangers.

"WAIT! Hayner tried to pick a fight with one of them that one time! Unless it was another friend that wore the same cloak as them..."

I bought three ice creams and started running to the clock tower.

_Why am I going up there? I only met those people once! It's not like they're going to be there..._

Sure enough, when I got to the ledge, no one was there. I sighed and sat down.

_There's nothing to do when you're by yourself... Hell I even finished the summer work out of boredom._

I heard footsteps behind me and I saw a hooded guy. He (or she) seemed to be a bit surprised to see me.

"Have we met before?," I questioned, making sure I got one of the right guys. They looked reluctant to answer. "It's okay to tell me." I smiled friendly, trying not to scare them off.

"Possibly...," he said softly.

I smiled, "I'm happy I found one of you. I don't even know why I started looking." I patted the spot next to me and he slowly sat down next to me. "Since we met again, I should tell you my name."

"Sure."

"You don't talk much do you."

"..."

"I guess that's a yes." I giggled. "My name is Mei."

I didn't notice another person was here with us.

"...I see..."

"What's yours?"

"...R-"

"His name's Roxas." I whipped my head around to see a tall man.

_The other guy from before!_

The tall man pulled his hood down, exposing his long, spiky red hair and emerald green eyes. He pointed at himself, leaning forward to me. "My name is Axel. Ax-el. Got it memorized?" He poked his head as I started laughing.

"I'm Mei. Got it memorized?," I mimicked the head poking movement. I looked at the two men. "So Axel and Roxas, eh?"

"Did you bring these for me?" Axel picked up my bag.

"N-No! I brought them all for myself!" I crossed my arms.

"Why is there three? There's three of us and there was three of us when we first met," Axel smirked. "You missed us."

"Did not! How could I miss a couple of strangers!" I reasoned.

"I see. So you didn't miss Roxas and me," Axel nodded to himself as I nodded too. "You just missed Roxas."

I nodded, then I stopped, my eyes widening at the realization of the trap I fell into. Axel started laughing his ass off as my face flushed.

_I don't even know anything about you two, especially Roxas!_

After hitting him upside the head, we all ate some ice cream together.

"No more school?,' Axel asked me.

I nodded, "Summer vacation now. My friends will be gone all week..." I looked at the two. "Aren't you guys hot under those!?"

"W-We're use to it," Axel quickly said.

"I see," I mumbled.

_Very suspicious..._

"How come Roxas doesn't talk much?," I asked.

"He's just shy," Axel reached behind me and patted Roxas hard on his back. "He just needs some time to warm up to you!"

_He's like a zombie to me though...barely talks and makes noises from time to time._

Roxas nearly fell off and he seemed to be glaring at Axel, grunting.

"You don't have to be shy around me Roxas," I smiled, putting my hand on his shoulder. "I don't bite."

* * *

It's been two days since I reunited with the two strangers. Everyday at sunset, we'd meet up and eat ice cream on the clock tower. I waited at the clock tower for my companions before I started eating my ice pop.

"Sorry we're late," I smiled, hearing Axel's voice behind me. "The traffic was just gruesome!"

_What traffic? I can see that there are no crowds down there and there's never a crowd of people anywhere here in general._

Roxas sat next to Axel, who sat next to me.

_This is the second time he did that! Is he trying to ignore me? Do I smell funny?_

"We should go to the park tomorrow before sunset," I suggested.

"No can do kiddo." Axel ruffled my hair.

"Why not?," I pouted.

"We're busy with...work," Axel tried to explain.

"You two are always busy!" I groaned. "What are your jobs anyways?"

"We're carpenters," Axel said, nonchalantly.

"Carpenters? I don't think you're suppose to wear black coats when working on a house."

"Well this is our personal business. We like to do our approach differently. This is just our uniforms."

"I'll just go to the park by myself then..."

* * *

**Roxas's POV-**

I wiped the sweat off my hood-less forehead, catching my breath from our just finished mission.

"Ready for the next one?," Axel asked me.

I nodded, opening a portal.

I stopped, hearing Axel talk, " You know... Mei is probably upset about wandering the park alone..."

_Mei was...that girl we've been seeing for the past few days now. That human girl._

I rose my brow at him, "What are you trying to get at?"

"Never mind." Axel scratched his head, going into the portal.

* * *

**Mei's POV-**

_I can have fun all by myself! I don't need them or anyone to accompany me!_

I stomped around the park.

"Oh, lookie what we have here. A lost duckling." I cringed, hearing Seifer's voice.

_I'm not that desperate for company!_

"What are you going to do boss?," Rai asked as I turned around to see the idiot-pack.

"I think we should do the generous thing and allow her to hangout with the town's finest," Seifer said smugly.

_Finest toilet._

"You're so kind boss!" Rai yelled, tears flowing down his face as Fuu just stood there.

I walked away while Seifer was basking in his self-induced glory. Apparently he wasn't that deep into himself yet and noticed me trying to escape.

"Hey! Where are you going?," he yelled.

"Away from you," I replied, walking.

_Leave me alone. Leave me alone. Leave me alone. Leave me alone. Leave me alone._

He grabbed my elbow and yanked me towards him.

_Why weren't my prayers answered?_

"I don't want any trouble," I said, trying to break free. I bit his arm and he yelped, letting me go.

I'm not exactly the fighting type for your information.

* * *

**Roxas's POV-**

We got to the clock tower only to see that Mei was not here yet.

"Think she got held up in traffic? It's just terrible at this time of day," Axel said, looking around down bellow for her. He was joking about the traffic of course.

We waited an hour for her. I felt a pinching feeling in my gut and my hands were shaking. I wonder why I am though.

"H-Hey guys, sorry for being late," Axel and I turned around to see Mei in the doorway, grinning, holding up a bag full of sea-salt ice cream. She was wearing a red hoodie and black sweats. Strange choice from her usual wear. The weird feeling I was getting was gone once she sat next to me. She smiled at me. I could only see her eyes and her mouth from under her hood. "You can't escape me sitting next to you Roxas."

_That wasn't my intention at all..._

We all started eating our ice cream.

"What took you so long?," Axel asked.

Mei snapped her fingers, "Dang traffic on the way here."

"I told you Roxas!" Axel joked as the two started laughing.

_But there was no traffic... I don't understand these two._

"Axel, can I visit you guys at work?," Mei asked.

"No. It's too dangerous," Axel crossed his arms.

"Then I guess it's a no to going to the park tomorrow too." She stuck her tongue out in dismay.

* * *

When we got back to the castle, Axel seemed to be in deep thought.

"Something wrong?," I asked.

"Something felt off today...," he mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing. I'm just over-thinking. It's not my place to do anything anyways."

_I wonder what he was thinking about..._

* * *

**Axel's POV-**

Roxas was assigned a solo mission today and so was I. I finished early and headed to the park in Twilight Town. I needed to look into something. I spotted Mei walking with a light jacket on with her hood up and pants.

_I thought it was too hot to wear that many layers._

I noticed a group of people coming toward her. I watched as she immediately turned the other way just as a guy ran to her and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder.

"Let me go bastard!" she yelled, trying to kick her way to freedom. I changed my hiding place to one more nearby.

"Did you learn your lesson?," the leader, I suppose, of the group tilting up her chin.

"There was no lesson to learn," she snapped. "School's over if you haven't gotten the memo yet."

"Why are you so covered up? You should serve as an example," the leader snapped his fingers as Mei was thrown onto the floor and the girl and the guy who grabbed Mei started ripping her clothes. My fists clenched.

_Fight back Mei!_

My eyes widened, seeing bandages, band-aids, and bruises all over Mei's body. She was in a tank top and ripped pants now.

"Buzz off," she muttered.

I made sure my hood was on and I quickly ran before Mei's skull was kicked in.

"What's going on here?," I asked, tripping the leader guy.

* * *

**Mei's POV-**

"... Thank you... You didn't have to do that...," I said to Axel as we were sitting at the clock tower.

"Why didn't you fight back?"

"I'm not much of a fighter..."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"I don't fight. I don't even know how to fight."

"Wh-"

"I'm not strong okay! I'm helpless! I grew up having others fight my battles to protect me... Seifer likes to pick on me when I'm alone is all."

"...why didn't you tell us you were late yesterday because you were being beaten?"

"I didn't think you guys would care...I mean there's no benefit or disadvantage to you guys if that happens to me."

"We're your friends though!"

"Friends? We just met a few days ago...better met."

"That doesn't mean we don't care!"

"Does Roxas care?..."

"Of course he does! He's just a shy little boy around you."

"..."

"Just because he's not talking to you doesn't mean he's not listening to what you say." Axel shoved an ice pop into my mouth. "He should be here any second now."

I held onto the stick as I pulled the blanket around me closer with one hand.

"Hey Roxas," Axel greeted as I heard footsteps. I turned my head a bit to look at Roxas.

He froze in his walking position, just staring at me. That's all he every does, stare. When he did talk to me it was very little. I barely remember what he sounded like.

"Something the matter Roxas?," Axel asked, eating his ice pop casually.

Roxas' body language looked torn. I could see the slight movements of his body, as if contemplating on what to do.

"Well, it looks like you two need some alone time...sooooooo, buh bye!," Axel ran into the clock tower.

"H-Hey!" I shouted.

_He just up and left!_

Roxas stood there, looking down for a minute before going to my side, crouching down. He took my face in his hands, moving my face to look at my injuries. He took off the blanket Axel got me.

_Is he counting my injuries or something?_

"I'll be fine. Don't worry Roxas. I may be weak, but I have a strong heart," I smiled, trying to ease his worries or was it curiosity. I don't even know anymore.

"..."

He grabbed my free hand as I was trying to finish my ice cream. He just stared down at it.

"You should eat your ice cream...before it melts," I nodded my head in the direction of the bag. He didn't move. I quickly finished my ice cream an put the stick aside. I took my hand away from him and grabbed his ice pop. I held it out to him. "Eat it."

"..."

"Please?" He took it and opened it, putting his mouth on the tip, sitting down now. "Are you really shy?"

"I don't know what to say to you," he said to me, surprising me. "People complain when I say only a little to them...but what else is there to say?"

_Eh?_

"Come again? I don't think I heard right. Did you just speak to me in a sentence?," I asked, leaning my ear to him.

"You're being weird!" He pushed me gently away from him. "...answer my question... What happened?"

I looked at my injuries and then back at Roxas. I grinned. "You should have seen the other guys."

He didn't seem amused by my joke considering his silence.

I sighed. "It's nothing unusual really. My gang is out of town so I'm here alone, now the giant idiots of the town want to pick on me. Long story short, when I first came here, the idiots wanted me to join their gang, but I refused...they still hold a grudge against me just for that..."

"So those idiots did this to you?"

I nodded. "It doesn't hurt as much as it did yesterday."

"No wonder you were so conserved yesterday."

"What is that suppose to mean?," I asked, getting annoyed now.

_I think I preferred you better when you didn't talk._

"You don't usually have clothes covering all of your skin."

_That makes it sound like I dress slutty or overly proud about my own body!_

"Well, how about you start showing skin too? Starting with that face of yours. I swear it feels like I'm talking to a black hole with that hood of yours on." He pulled down his hood, understanding my discomfort. I lightly blushed, taking in these new features of Roxas. He has light spiky brown hair and the bluest eyes I've ever seen. "Was that so hard?"

"I guess not..."

_I should change topics._

"Hey Roxas, what are your hobbies?"

"What are those?"

"You don't know what hobbies are?" He shook his head to answer my question. "Well, they're things you do a lot for your own pleasure, not necessarily because you're good at them. Like knitting, bowling, cooking, drawing, singing, playing an instrument, something along those lines."

"Never thought about that before..."

"Oh, I see..."

_Not much of a conversation..._

"What are your hobbies?"

"Me? My hobbies include...playing the piano, spending time with my friends, origami, baking...and don't tell my friends, but I really like to just stare up at the sky. It's really pretty." I looked up at the sky, leaning back a bit. "I want to be able to engrave every single sky this world has to offer in my mind. It's like a different artwork being displayed everyday."

I looked over at Roxas to see him looking at the sky, confused and indifferent. I chuckled. "That hobby isn't for everyone. Like I said earlier, it's something I like to do. It must be weird for you."

"Mei...," Roxas said as if he was unsure.

_Is he unsure if that's my name? Whatever, I'll just play along._

"Yeah?"

He nodded to himself, probably concluding that he got my name right. "What's it like to have a heart?"

"A heart? Don't you have one?"

"..." His face distorted into a sullen pout.

_What's with him? I should just humor him..._

"It kind of sucks to have a heart," I admitted truthfully after some quick thought off of past experiences.

"But you're no one without one! Wouldn't you want to be who you are? A Somebody?"

_Somebody?_

I scratched my cheek. "You can be considered a nobody even with a heart. It's called a social class set up by those in higher power. I don't really think it's your heart that makes you you...I personally believe it's your soul. I also think that it's humanly impossible to live without a heart since our hearts pump our blood throughout our body."

"If someone didn't have a heart, would that mean they were dead?"

"... Sounds like a zombie," I laughed, but Roxas didn't seem to find the same humor as I did. I stopped and looking at the sunset. "According to common sense given to us by medical books, yeah, that would mean literally heartless people were dead, unless it was a split second during a heart transplant... That's complicating things though. This world is strange...so I guess I wouldn't be surprised. What if magic, demons, angels, and talking animals existed? Wouldn't that be cool? I'm sure they do...we just haven't discovered them yet. So yeah, I guess you could live without a heart, just not in the world I've seen up until now."

"How can you be sure you're not alive if you don't have a heart?"

_Still asking weird questions, Roxas?_

I grabbed his hand, pulling off his glove. I held his hand in both of mine. "You're warm. Zombies and corpses can't be warm. If you were dead Roxas, your body wouldn't be trying so hard to keep you alive. Your will lies in your soul and is conveyed through your brain. The fact that you can even be here with me right now or being able to heal your wounds over time, it's really something. You're living life right now, aren't you? Got it memorized?"

I got a small chuckle from Roxas from my mini Axel impression. Roxas stopped with the weird questions, thankfully, and he seemed a bit happier, if not more confused, than when he first came here. I felt something squishy and looked down.

"Ack!" I squealed, pointing at the opened wrapping in his hands that was leaking with some sort of like blue liquid. "Your sea-salt ice cream melted Roxas! I told you to eat it earlier! What a waste..."

"Sorry..." He looked down at his melted ice cream, surprised with his glove back on. He pulled out the wooden stick and licked off the wet mixture. "Not the same..." He looked upset.

"Eat it quicker next time then," I scolded.

"Is this your favorite ice cream?," Roxas asked me.

I nodded as if that was obvious. "I've been eating it since I moved here! Compared to all the other flavors in the word, this one takes the cake!"

"Cake? I thought we were talking about ice cream?"

"Figure of speech," I said, sweat dropping.

"Oh... I know that. I was just joking... Sea-salt ice cream is like the icing on the cake," Roxas said, holding a finger up.

I gasped. "It really is!"

_So Roxas likes this flavor as well._

I smiled as Roxas stood up. "I should get going now. I need to RTC."

"RTC?," I asked, not familiar with that lingo.

"Yeah, Return To the Castle," he clarified to me, though it wasn't much help.

_Does he call his house a castle? Maybe this is a weird thing he does with Axel...Roleplaying? Maybe their version of Dungeon and Dragons?..._

"I see...how did I not understand it before?," I said uncomfortably. As he turned to leave, I just remembered something. I stood up and held my hand out.

"Roxas, wait!"

He stopped and turned to me quickly. "Yes?"

I blushed lightly and looked down to the ledge, moving my outstretched hand to my elbow. "Am I... Do you want to be my friend?"

_Axel says we're friends...but I want to hear that I'm your friend from your own mouth._

He smiled at me. "Of course! Say, how about we have sea-salt ice cream tomorrow, same time, but this time Axel buys."

We both started to laugh and I agreed. Once he disappeared into the clock tower, going down probably, I looked out over the horizon.

_This wasn't the most normal day I've ever had...but it's definitely in my top bests._

* * *

**Roxas's POV-**

_"Day 17 - I became friends with that girl with a heart from Twilight Town (Mei). We even laughed together and shared sea-salt ice cream! It's her favorite too! It's like me, Axel, and her all share that one thing in common. I can't wait to see her tomorrow after my mission with Axel. I still get the feeling that I've met Mei before...'_

_'Mei told me that I don't need a heart to be Somebody... What she told me contradicted everything I've been told so far...but I don't mind. It made me feel better...talking with her makes me feel different. I like being around her, but I wish I knew why. Thank Kingdom Hearts that my diary is private. I would be made fun of if my diary would leak!"_

"Yo Roxas! How was your date with Mei?," Axel asked me, slugging his arm over my shoulder.

I blushed and pushed him off me. "Stop trying to tease me! It's not working! She's my friend now."

"Oh? Starting out slow are we?"

I elbowed him and the two of us started to laugh.

Axel stopped laughing and turned serious. "Roxas, you need to be careful what you say around Mei... You shouldn't go around talking about the Organization with her, we don't want anything to risk our goal."

"Mei wouldn't do anything to mess with the Organization."

"I know, I know, but do you want to deal with her if you were to tell her that you have no heart and that your job is to collect hearts from different worlds in order to complete Kingdom Hearts?"

"...sounds like a mouthful."

"Exactly. She's just a normal mortal anyhow. We shouldn't involve her, nor should she have ever came into this much contact with us."

"Why did you allow it then?"

"Because, I don't like playing by their rules sometimes." Axel winked to me. "As long as we don't tell her the truth about us, we won't run the risk of putting her in danger."

_So he's really just thinking about Mei's sake... I see where he's going with this._

"Oh, tomorrow, ice cream is on you," I told him, remembering to remind him.

"Huh? When was this decided?!"

"Some time after you left us. Serves you right for leaving." I crossed my arms, grinning victoriously.

"THAT'S IT. THAT'S THE LAST TIME I LEAVE YOU ALONE WITH A WOMAN WITH A BRAIN!"

* * *

**I hope this was a bearable first chapter. It's only the start of this story anyhow.**

**Review if you so choose to.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the long wait! I've been busy with life (yeah I have a life - surprises me every time too). I try my best to get things out though...and done. Heh. Enjoy this chapter if you can!**

* * *

**Mei's POV-**

I was running a little late to my usual meet up with Axel and Roxas. I couldn't help it since I needed to do some chores around my house for my Aunt. I ran up the stairs of the clock tower. Once nearing the top, I slowed down to a casual walk as I straightened out my cream-colored blouse.

I came out to the ledge to see my companions already there, no surprise.

"LATE!" Axel shouted at me as if he was an elementary schooler telling on me to the teacher. "YOU'RE LATE!"

"Oh be quiet," I snapped, taking a seat beside Roxas.

"Guess you don't want this then?" Axel held up a sea salt pop.

_Is an ice pop really worth being nice to him…?_

I mustered up my million dollar smile. "I didn't say anything, sweet sweet Axel. You're so kind and generous. We should all strive to follow in your example."

"Was that so hard?" Axel tossed the pop over.

"You have no idea," I groaned, exaggerating my displeasure.

"Shut up."

We both started to laugh with Roxas just smiling at our childish we were being.

"Why were you late today, Mei?" Roxas asked me as he took a small bite of his pop.

_He probably thinks I got into some trouble today._

"I needed to finished a couple of chores before I left my house is all," I said reassuringly. "How was work for you two?" For some odd reason, Axel and Roxas both tensed up as if work was a sensitive topic. "Rough day?"

"You can say that…" Roxas started.

"Work is so tiring already. Every day seems like a hard day," Axel finished.

I leaned back on my free hand.

_I suppose that's true._

The three of us joke around with one another with insults and just normal scenario jokes.

"Haha! This was great and all, but-"

I cut of Axel. "Are you breaking up with me?" I pretended to be emotionally distressed by putting my face into my hands and cracking my voice.

"It's not you. It's me." Axel said dramatically as he made his way into the clock tower. Before disappearing inside, he grinned at me. "Just kidding, it's you."

I threw my stick at his retreating figure and started cracking up with Roxas who was already trying to stifle a laugh from the start.

"You're not going with him?" I asked after calming myself down enough to properly get out a question. I wiped a tear from my eye from laughing too much.

"I'll go in a bit," he replied, leaning his elbows on his knees as he smiled at me softly.

"…"

_Roxas…_

"Mei? Are you okay?"

"Huh?" I flinched, straightening my back up as if I was caught doing something sinful. "Did you need something?"

"You zoned out there… Are you sure you're fine?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I didn't even notice I was out of it." I loosened up my shoulders. "I guess I was just enjoying the moment."

"That's your 'enjoying the moment' face?" I playfully punched his shoulder. "Ow!"

_That didn't hurt you wuss!_

"Do you have a problem with my face?"

"No. Your expressions are interesting."

I felt my face heat up.

_It's getting hotter in summer now._

"T-Thank you… I think."

I stole a glance at Roxas' face as he was looking out at the eternal sunset. It was starting to get late, but the reflections of the twilight on Roxas' face just captivated me. Something about this scene gave me a tad sense of déjà vu, yet I've never had this moment with Roxas before. Maybe Roxas just reminded me of someone in my past before I moved, but I couldn't clearly remember from where.

_It'll come to me eventually. It probably wasn't important if I forgot it too._

"Any big plans tomorrow, Mei?"

I tuned back into what Roxas was saying. "Oh, nothing in particular. I'm probably just going to go for a jog or something, but that will only be for thirty minutes."

"You can run for thirty minutes straight?"

"Oh gosh no, I would die. Axel and you would have to go plan my funeral. Mei, may her soul rest in peace. Died from jogging for thirty minutes straight. I can see it now."

"You're exaggerating."

I shrugged. "Probably, but it's obvious I will be taking some breaks. When will you be done with work tomorrow? Maybe we can do something."

I noticed Roxas looked a little alarmed. "Uhhh, there is no exact time really…"'

"Axel and you seem to have no probably getting here on time though, so I'm assuming you must finish before sunset."

"Well… I guess you can say that every day we have a goal to complete and if we don't complete that goal, we can't…leave work. So our end times vary."

"The company you work for seems very goal-oriented, which sounds like a good thing, but if you could get more things done in a day, I think that's more efficient than having one task a day.

"Ha ha ha… I just follow what I'm told."

"True, can't do anything about who you work for."

It was starting to get a little chilly. I stood up and Roxas followed heed.

"We've been out pretty late this time," I acknowledged as I rubbed my arms for warmth.

"Are you cold?"

I nodded. "A little, but it's nothing serious that would cause something like hypothermia. We should get going. Your family must be getting worried."

Roxas frowned. "Yeah… I'll go on ahead…"

_Huh? His mood changed so suddenly. Maybe family is a touchy subject for him? That's none of my business…_

"Ah, bye Roxas!" I managed to say right as he left for the stairs.

I felt my stomach contort.

_Did I upset him? Ugh! Way to go Mei! Chase away all your friends while you're at it?_

Despite my efforts the next day, it was just the same as any other day. Even jogging around town didn't feel different.

_Am I really getting anywhere if I feel like I've been in the same place?_

My mind flashed to images of the clock tower with Axel and Roxas.

_I definitely feel like I can escape the cycle when I'm with them…but maybe because they're still a mystery to me… Do I want the mystery to stop?_

I took a break on a bench in the town square to catch my breath.

"… Why do I feel so unsatisfied?" I leaned into the bench, hanging my head off the back so I could gaze up at the sky better.

_Maybe I just miss Hayner and them…or maybe I just want to see Axel and-_

"Roxas…"

"Yeah?" Said boy's face was upside-down, looking down at me. My face flushed from the embarrassment of realizing that I just called out his name.

I quickly sat up, forgetting his face was in front of mine and head-butted him in the process. I hunched over in my seat, clutching my forehead in pain. I imagine Roxas was doing the same, but crouching.

"Ugh, what was that for?"

"Sorry, Roxas. You surprised me." I took a deep breath and sat up as the pain was slowly subsiding. Roxas took a seat beside me. "I don't usually see you till later."

"I…finished work earlier."

_He's making a weird face again…_

I had a feeling that he was hiding something from me, but I pushed it aside because I didn't really know much about him in the first place.

I smiled at him. "I'm glad I get to spend the rest of the day with you then." He didn't reply, but he didn't have to. I wouldn't even know what to say in his position.

I managed to drag Roxas to ramen shop for lunch. Apparently this was his first time having ramen, shockingly enough. As we were eating, I couldn't help but be amused with the way Roxas' face lit up when he enjoyed something and scrunched up when he was hesitant on eating something foreign to him.

"Cute," I said out loud without meaning to. I blushed as Roxas looked up at me puzzled.

"Cute?"

"N-Nothing." I slurped some noodles.

"Hey Mei?" I nodded at him to tell him he had my attention. "Let's say you can live without having a heart somehow and someone was born without a heart. If we lack a heart, do you think we still exist?"

_Again with the strange questions? You have an over-active imagination._

"Well, assuming it's possible to be as we are not without a heart… Yeah, I do believe we would still exist. If people can see you and interact with you, you're not invisible or anything."

"Aren't I- I mean we- insignificant to others though?"

"No because… Well, let's say you didn't have a heart Roxas. You would still be very significant to me."

"Why?"

I lightly blushed. "Because we're friends and I enjoy spending time with you….AND AXEL! A-Anyways, even if you left now, you'd still be here with me in my memories. If you feel empty and nonexistent, then wouldn't the people around you and your memories be all you have?"

"What if we don't have a memory of the past?"

"Roxas, I don't want to be a know-it-all, but… We make history every day. Our past is as sudden as when you first asked me this weird scenario. You have memories of Axel, you, and me eating sea salt ice cream every evening. You will have a memory of eating ramen with me today." I smiled. "So don't worry about having no memories."

"That's not that I mean…"

"What do you mean then?"

"Never mind! But…thank you for that point of view."

"No problem…"

Once we finished eating, we paid and started to stroll through town with no destination in mind. I started to slow down to the point where he was walking within arms' reach in front of me.

_I…_

I reached my hand out a little towards his back.

…_want to get to know you more, Roxas…_

I nearly grabbed ahold of his hood before I retracted my hand, realizing how strange I was acting myself. I shook my head and pinched my cheeks before speeding up. I grabbed Roxas' wrist and dragged him to an arcade.

"What's this place?" Roxas asked me as I led him to a coin exchange machine.

I raised my brow at him, wondering if he has been living under a rock or something. "An arcade…where people play games. Come on."

I motioned him to follow me. We played basketball, racing games, and skee ball.

We were laughing after just finishing up a shooting game where we shot at rival enemies.

"What's that?" Roxas pointed at a machine full of toys.

"Ah! That's a claw machine." We walked over to it. "You just move the claw over the prize you want and hit this button to send the claw down to retrieve it."

"Okay, sounds simple enough."

"Not exactly… It's really hard to play since the toy always slips out."

"This doesn't look that hard. See anything you want?"

"Huh?"

"What do you want?"

"I heard you the first time…it's just… You don't have to win me anything. Isn't there something you want?"

Roxas looked over the prizes. "Not particularly."

I looked at the prizes and spotted a small brown teddy bear with a red bow around its neck.

_Ah…it looks so cute…_

Roxas followed me gaze to the bear. "Okay, got it." He put in some coins and went to work.

I watched him expectantly. I know I shouldn't be so hopeful of him winning anything, but I couldn't help but feel giddy in this moment.

"Look at that couple over there. He's trying to win his girlfriend a stuff animal," I overheard someone say. I turned around, blushing.

_C-Couple? U-Us? Roxas and me?_

I looked over at how focused Roxas' face was on the claw, causing me to blush harder.

_Do we look like a couple when we walk around together? What age is he even? He looks like he's my age, but he already has a job and looks can be deceiving._

I tried to convince myself that Roxas was a 24 year old man who was just short for his age.

"Ah!" Roxas dropped the bear so close to the drop box. "I was so close!"

I smiled, feeling a little disappointed. "Let's go Roxas."

"Are you sure?" Roxas looked conflicted about leaving, but I nodded and tugged his arm. As we were walking side by side down the sidewalk, Roxas reached up and scratched the back of his head. "I'm sorry Mei. I couldn't get you that bear."

"It's the thought that counts. I told you it wouldn't be that easy." I noticed a lot of couples from different ages around us. Roxas didn't seem to register anything as he looked lost in his own thoughts.

_We blend in with them…despite Roxas' poor choice in clothes._

I lightly slapped both of my cheeks with my hands.

_I don't even know him! Just because people see one thing doesn't mean I should succumb to their wishes!_

"What do we have here? Is that my little Mei I see?" I grunted in displeasure.

_Seifer…_

Roxas and I turned around to see the idiot brigade behind us.

Seifer averted his gaze over from me to Roxas. He narrowed his eyes as if analyzing Roxas.

"Who's this punk?"

"It's none of your business Seifer," I snapped, stepping in front of Roxas. "Just leave us alone."

Seifer glared at me and grabbed my arm roughly and pulled me forward towards him. Seifer glared daggers into Roxas. "Stay away from my woman."

_Woman?! That's a first from him. As if I'd like someone with an ugly soul like yours._

"Let me go, stupid. You're making things up. Ack!" Seifer tightened his grip on me, causing me to crouch a bit in pain.

It all happened to fast.

"I don't know what's going on, but don't hurt Mei like that." I didn't fully register what happened, but Roxas somehow knocked Seifer on his butt and released his grip on me. I was safely tucked around Roxas' arm.

_This was almost like how Axel roughed up Seifer and his gang a bit last time._

"This punk…"

"Hey, you dare push down our Boss like that?!" Rai shouted, gritting his teeth.

I lightly tugged on Roxas' coat. He looked down at me slightly, still alert of the idiot brigade. I whispered, "Let's make a run for it." He nodded and as Rai was helping Seifer up, Roxas grabbed my hand and we took off running. I directed Roxas to different paths as to try to lose and get as far away as possible from the trio.

"I think we lost them," I huffed, tugging at Roxas' hand to slow down.

"What are their problems?"

"They think they own the town. Seifer has had a grudge against me ever since I decided not to join his loser squad when I moved here."

Roxas' eyes widened, realizing something. "Were they the ones you beat you up?"

_Oh yeah…that happened._

I nodded sadly as Roxas clenched his fists. I grabbed his arm and held it to me. "I'm fine now though! There's no need to do anything drastic."

"…"

We took a seat on a nearby bench.

"You hinted at this before also, but you're not from here?" Roxas asked me. I nodded. "Are you from a different world then?"

"A different world? I took a train to get here, not a space ship." I laughed. "I don't think there are any other forms of life on other planets Roxas. What have you been learning in school?"

"Where did you come from then before Twilight Town?"

"Haha, I came from… Where did I come from? The name is escaping me right now… I came here when I was really young though."

_Why have I been having trouble remembering my past?_

"We should pick up some sea salt ice cream and heat to the clock tower," Roxas said, standing up. I followed him and go the ice cream. We went up to the tower and sad down on the ledge as usual. Axel wasn't here yet.

I looked down at the train station below. "We should go to the beach next time you're off early Roxas…" I smiled to myself. "Axel too, and when my friends get back, I can introduce you guys to them. The more the merrier, right?"

Before Roxas could respond, Axel decided to show up and shove me jokingly. I screamed, afraid I would fall as Roxas grabbed me by my shoulders and held me to him slightly. Axel gave us a sly look.

"What have you two been up to?" Axel asked with his smirk growing.

Roxas let go of me. "I tried ramen today and went to the arcade. It's pretty fun."

"Eh? Sounds like a date to me," Axel said as my face heated up.

"Date?" Roxas asked as he took out the ice cream, handing it out to us.

"It was not a date! It was just a hangout between two friends of the opposite gender!" I shouted, punching Axel's shoulder.

"Aye! Alright, alright, I get it already." Axel popped his pop into his mouth.

"Get it memorized then," I said tauntingly to him.

He pushed me into Roxas, who stabilized me with his free arm. My face deepened its pink flush.

_This is just ridiculous!_

* * *

**Roxas' POV-**

After Mei left, Axel and I stayed at the clock tower.

"What do you think about Mei?" Axel asked me out of nowhere.

"Mei? She's our friend. She's nice and fun to hang out with."

Axel sighed as if my answer wasn't satisfying enough. "I think you should distance yourself from Mei."

"Huh? Why?"

"Girls like her with hearts; you don't want to lead them on. We don't have hearts and can't feel Roxas."

"I know that, but how am I leading her on? And what am I even leading her on?"

"It's hard to explain since we don't have hearts, but if she gets too close to us, she might get caught up in our organization."

"If she does, I'll just protect her then. There are heartless all around Twilight Town."

"What if she falls in love with you?"

"Love? What's love?"

"It's a gushy feeling that…we can't feel anything Roxas, so there's no point in explaining something we can't understand. This is why we need to complete Kingdom Hearts, so that we can get our own hearts."

"I know that much."

"Then know that we can't be hanging out with Mei every day like this anymore."

I felt something in me tighten at the idea.

"But she's our friend…"

"And if we know what's good for her we'd get out of her life."

"…"

_Leave her to save her?_

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

I walked out of my room, ready to start my day with more of my fun missions. I walked into the lounge, yawning.

"Oof, sorry." I looked who I bumped into. "Sorry, Xion."

"…" Xion said nothing to me and still wore her hood as usual.

_Okay… Great conversation…_

She walked away and I shrugged it off and went to Saix to get my mission for the day.

"Roxas, today you will be…"

* * *

**Mei's POV-**

"Aunt Molly, I'm heading out now!" I shouted into the house before closing the door.

"Wait!"

My aunt emerged from her study with a cloth in her hands. She slowly opened up the cloth and picked up a pendant. There was a clear small pebble surrounded by thin lines of silver to hold the pebble in place.

"What's this?" I asked, as my aunt pulled out a chain and attached the pendant to it.

"Your parents left this for you," she replied, putting the necklace over my head. The chain was long enough that the pendant rested just above my chest. "I feel like it's time you inherited it."

"It's pretty and simple," I commented, gently picking up the pendant.

"Don't lose it!"

"Of course! Bye!"

I tucked the necklace underneath my tank top. I was wearing a gray tank top with a thin green coat and jean shorts.

Today, I was going to go exploring around the Old Mansion. I stumbled upon it around the time I first came to Twilight Town and later showed my friends it. We gave up trying to break into the mansion a long time ago as well since we were too small to ever get over the gate and too weak to bring anything to help us up. The mansion just popped into my head in a dream last night.

I made sure no one in town as watching when I slipped through the hole that led to the woods. I stretched my arms, taking in the fresh air.

"It's nice to be out in nature for a change." I weaved my way through the trees with ease and arrived at the gates of the mansion.

_It's a wonder why I never came back when I was big enough to climb trees._

"Well, there's no time lie the present." I picked a tree that was beside the brick wall and made my way towards it.

I stopped in mid-step, feeling an electric sensation go through my veins. Something in me screamed to barrel-roll to the right and that's what I did, just in time to dodge a giant chameleon.

_Hold on. Giant chameleon? Did I just stumble on a new species of chameleons?_

I felt adrenaline pumping through me as the chameleon disappeared. I still felt its eyes on my though, watching me.

_It's dangerous here._

I got up to make a run for the woods, but before I could reach the safety of the trees, something pink wrapped itself around my waist and pulled me back.

"I-Is this a tongue!? Disgusting!"

Just as I was released, I watched helplessly as the giant chameleon slashed at me with its claws. I was knocked back a few meters away. I felt like my body was on fire from the attack.

_If this is a dream, someone…please wake me up…_

I pushed myself up into a standing position.

_I should have taken martial arts, but would it have really helped in this situation?_

The chameleon disappeared and I tried to tune into my sense of hearing to see if that would help me to locate it. It didn't. The creature appeared behind me and knocked me aside with its tail. I've never been in this much pain before. My shoulders hurt, my back hurt, my head hurt, the scratch marks burned, and my legs were aching.

_Is this a nightmare…? Someone…please wake me up…_

The monster roared and I looked up at it as it hovered over me. There was a weird red and black mark on its stomach, not that it mattered right now. I didn't even realize I was crying till I reached up to rub my eye and felt tears.

_I need to get away!_

I was slashed continuously, whimpering every time I was struck.

_This is it…I'm going to die here… If only I could fight back… If only magic was real and I was full of it…_

I closed my eyes, trying to suck up the pain.

_If only I had a…_

The darkness behind my eyelids started to lighten up as I whispered out shakily. "Barrier…"

I stopped feeling the slashes on my back and I didn't know if it was because I grew numb or because I died. I was tired. I don't know how long my eyes were closed, but when I managed to open them a little, I didn't know if I was hallucinating.

* * *

**Roxas' POV-**

_Not here either? Where can the Veil Lizard be?_

I went into the woods and fought off a few heartless before I heard a scream, a roar, and saw a beam of light in the distance. I quickly finished off the last heartless and ran towards the sounds. I appeared in front of the Old Mansion.

Good news, I found the Veil Lizard. Bad news, there was an unconscious girl there and the lizard appeared to have been attacking her. Worst news, the girl was Mei.

I felt anger boil up inside of me as I took out my keyblade. The Veil Lizard disappeared and I, having fought one before, knew how to take it down. After defeating the Veil Lizard, I put away my keyblade and ran over to Mei's side. Her eyes were slightly open.

"…Roxas…" Her eyes shut and her body fell limp in my arms. I panicked, not knowing if she died or not. Remembering what it means to be alive, I laid her down on the floor and carefully pressed my ear over the area her heart should be.

_**Thump. Thump. Thump.**_

I sighed in relief.

_She's alive… I need to get her wounds treated though. I don't think I have enough magic to use cure on her._

I scooped her up into my arms and carried her into town, making sure I took the paths not many people traveled on. I didn't want to draw attention. I managed to find a small clinic and I dropped Mei off to them much to the nurse's surprise.

* * *

**Mei's POV-**

I was lying in an endless field of grass under a clear blue sky. Was this kind of sky even possible? I've only ever been under a twilight sky. One by one different balls of light started to appear above me. They looked to be planets, but they weren't round. You could see building and trees sticking out of them. They appeared to be different worlds from mine entirely. I saw streams of blue weaving through these other worlds and in turn connecting to me, or more importantly, my pendant.

_What is this…?_

Everything disappeared into darkness and my eyes opened once against to a bright white room.

"Ah! You're awake now! Your friend fell asleep over there. He looked terrified when he brought you in. Think of our surprised when you came out of nowhere all beaten up." I turned my head to see a nurse talking to me. "You're in a clinic right now. The pain killers must be kicking in right now. The doctor will be back soon to see if you're fine to be released." The nurse left and I pressed a button on the bed to angle the top half up so I would be sitting up. I looked over to a comfy chair in the corner of the room. Roxas was curled up in the chair, fast asleep. On the small table beside him looked to be female clothes for what I guessed was my since I was just in a hospital gown. I winced as I took out the IV drip from my arm and slipped out of bed. I took a few minutes standing with the bed as a support to regain my sense of balance. After that, I walked over and grabbed the clothes and quickly changed before Roxas could wake up. There was no connected bathroom to this room. After changing into the grey sweat shirt and red shorts, I found my shoes and slipped them on.

I fell into the chair on the other side of the small table. These pain killers were amazing. I didn't feel a thing despite seeing cuts and bruises all fixed up. I looked over at Roxas' sleeping face in wonder.

_That wasn't a dream… I saw Roxas…fighting that…thing. It just disappeared when Roxas finished it off…_

I teared up, remembering what happened.

_Roxas' face…_

My heart ached.

_I don't want to see that kind of expression on him._

When Roxas got to me, before I blacked out again, I saw his breathing hitched, his shoulders shaking, and his pupils small. He looked like he was going to have a heart attack. I can't even put into anymore words how painful it was to see his face or even look back on it.

I quickly wiped my tears as Roxas started to wake up.

"Morning, sleepy-head." I joked as he was still trying to wake up.

He looked at me with his drowsy face before it clicked what happened before he slept.

"Why are you out of bed?! Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine. I'm fine. They gave me some pain killers, so I feel fine!"

After the doctor released me Roxas and I went up to the clock tower. We were silent since we left the clinic.

"…How much do you remember?" Roxas asked, leaning on his knees with his elbows.

"Giant chameleon attacking."

"Veil Lizard."

"Oh sorry, Veil Lizard. How could I have not known before?"

"Be serious here."

"…" I looked down at the train as it pulled into the station. "I blacked out at one point when I was being attacked, and the next thing I knew, you were fighting it…and it disappeared once you defeated it… That is not a normal animal…and you were doing things not normal too…"

"…"

"…"

_What no explanation for yourself?_

"Roxas, what's going on here?"

"Let's stop meeting."

_...Excuse me what?_

"What are you-"

"After today, let's never see each other again."

My eyes widened. "No."

"No?"

"I'm not going to stop seeing you Roxas!" My heart was racing.

"It's for your own good! You think I want to leave you? I don't want you to get hurt like today."

"I don't even know what today was!"

"It's better you don't find out. The more you know, the more danger you'll be in."

"I would think otherwise. I should know what I should be expecting. The more cautious I can be the better!"

"It's too dangerous for you! What if I wasn't there to save you? What if I wasn't assigned to this mission?"

"Mission? I was attacked by chance not because I knew you unless you pissed off a lot of wildlife."

"Damn it." Roxas got up and pulled on his hood. "Good bye, Mei."

I got up and ran after him. I tackled him down so he fell on his chest and I fell onto his back. "No goodbyes. You can't just decide things for yourself." I started crying into his back.

"…"

"If you're leaving because you care then I don't want your care… I want you in my life Roxas…you can't leave that easily… Stupid. You're so stupid. Everything happened so suddenly and even this."

"…"

"I can't forget everything that has happened… I don't want you to make a face like that again…so I'll get stronger…"

"…"

"Please don't leave…I promise that I'll get stronger…just stay with me, Roxas…"

Roxas moved and I just wrapped my arms around him from behind and refused to let him go. "Let me sit up." I loosened my grip and the two of us sat up, facing each other as Roxas pulled down his hood. I wiped my eyes that still had tears falling. Roxas looked down at the floor below us in deep thought.

After what felt like hours Roxas finally spoke. "Give me your hands." I did as he asked and he held mine in both of his. He looked at me. "I promise, Mei, that I will protect you to the best of my abilities. Just try not to get yourself into trouble."

"Does this mean you'll tell me what's going on?"

"I don't know much myself…"

"But you know more than I do. I don't need everything in detail, just the basics."

"…Don't tell Axel you know… I need to figure out how to break it to him that I told you…" I nodded as Roxas let go of my hands and crossed his arms. "We're not really carpenters."

I gasped. "No! Really?!" I grinned despite my nose being a little clogged. Roxas playfully punched my shoulder in an attempt to wordlessly tell me to knock it off.

This anticipating feeling of being able to learn something new and out of the ordinary burned throughout my chest.

"We work for an organization that seeks out heartless and creatures like the one you saw. They contain hearts in them."

"Hearts? Like human hearts?"

"They don't have to necessarily be human…"

_Animals too then?_

"Tell me more."

"We collect hearts to complete something called Kingdom Hearts and once we complete it we ourselves get hearts."

"You get hearts?"

He nodded. "Members of the Organization do not have hearts apparently so we are considered Nobodies…"

_That's why he kept asking me about hearts and being alive…_

"Roxas, I'm not an expert, but I don't think that you lack a heart… You can't be able to make faces like that…you can't fake emotions you've never felt before as genuinely as you have shown to me."

_Oops, I interrupted his explanation._

"…I don't know anything. I don't think the others do either."

_He must mean his other coworkers like Axel. I wonder what the others are like?_

"What was that giant key?"

"This?" He held out his arm and a giant golden key appeared. I flinched back in surprise. "This is called a keyblade. The Kingdom Key to be exact. I'm the only one in the Organization who can wield it."

"C-Cool."

_This all sounds so made-up, but I just watched him make a giant key appear. If he uses a giant key to fight, what does Axel use? Probably his ego._

Roxas grinned. "I can also use magic. You questioned if magic existed before and it does."

_Monsters, giant key weapons, collecting hearts and now… Now m-magic!?_

"Prove it!" This was all starting to sound all too unbelievable.

"Heh, I don't want to use it recklessly. It takes up my magic power."

"Magic power…?"

"It's…I guess you can say having a lot of it lets you use more magic."

_This sounds like some sort of fantasy role-playing game with bad guys and good guys!_

"I want to learn magic! Teach me!" I shook one of Roxas' shoulders as if I was a child throwing a tantrum.

He laughed at my enthusiasm. "Magic isn't for everyone."

I pouted and crossed my arms. "Well it's for me."

"We'll see. We'll see, Mei."

I sighed. "I'll take what I can get. If you face creatures like the Lizard guy every day, doesn't it ever get scary?"

Roxas shrugged. "I don't really notice."

I sweat-dropped.

_How can you not notice?_

"What's up with the heat attracting clothes?"

"I told you I don't know everything. This is just our uniform."

"Don't you get hot in it?"

"Never noticed."

"…."

"What?"

"Nothing…"

_You need to be more observant, Roxas… You're going to grow up all dense at this rate._

I smiled at Roxas, happy that he told me the truth even though it sounded really far-fetched. He smiled back at me with care.

_I'm glad we're friends._

"What are you kids talking about? It looks like I'm late." Axel appeared holding up a bag of sea salt ice cream.

"N-Nothing!" both Roxas and I shouted out in unison. Axel raised his brow at us, questioning the situation while Roxas and I just looked at each other and laughed.

"Let me in on the joke guys! I want to laugh too!" Axel shouted which just resulting in our laughter increasing in intensity.

* * *

**Roxas' POV-**

"Oh!" I felt something in my pocket and pulled out a necklace with a pendant on it. "I forgot to give this back to Mei! Ah, I'll just give it to her tomorrow."

I smiled to myself, thinking of tomorrow.

* * *

**Axel's POV-**

I laid in bed thinking back on this day.

_There's no way to get her away now…_

I thought back to the clock tower where I listened in on Roxas explaining Kingdom Hearts to Mei.

_She didn't sound fully convinced of everything either, but she seems like the kind of person to believe in her friends._

After I came out of my hiding place as if I just arrived there, I could tell they were hiding something that was an insider just between them. That being the truth I warned Roxas not to tell her.

_Instead of distancing himself from her he just got closer. Geez! I only encouraged him in the end!_

Roxas didn't even think of telling me anything. I saw some bandages on Mei, but I just decided to ignore them.

_Roxas probably had no choice but to tell her…_

If I remembered correctly, his mission today was in Twilight Town. I sighed knowing that he probably ran into her and she saw something she shouldn't have.

_They don't give me enough credit on my deductive skills. I have a brain too, got it memorized?_

I stretched on my bed before relaxing my muscles and turning on my side.

_Things might get a little more interesting now._


	3. Chapter 3

**Mei's POV-**

"I forgot to give this back to you," Roxas said bashfully as he pulled out the pendant my parents left for me.

_So that's where it went! Good thing I left before my Aunt woke up._

"Thank you Roxas," I replied as he slipped it over my head. I pulled my hair out and felt the cold metal of the chain on the back of my neck. I tucked the pendant into my shirt. "I have to make sure no one will be tempted to steal it."

"Where'd you get it?"

"My parents left it for me to have…" I smiled sadly at the ground.

_Ah, let's not think about this now._

I shook my head a little with my smile still on my face. "Are you done with your mission already Roxas?" He nodded and I linked my arm with his. "Great! Now we can hangout before we meet up with Axel!"

We walked around town for a while. It was like I was giving him a tour, but with a mix of my own experiences like falling out of the tree in front of the book store when I was ten because I was dared to climb the tree by Hayner.

"Your friends sound pretty energetic," Roxas commented.

"You don't know the half of it." I laughed. "They are amazing people, though Hayner can be tiring to deal with when you butt heads every once in a while."

"Are they still out of town?"

I nodded. "They're coming back in two days though! Maybe I can introduce you to them!"

"We'll see." Roxas' stomach growled. He wrapped his arms around his stomach and blushed. "S-Sorry."

I laughed. "Hungry I see. Don't worry, we're actually nearby my house." I waved him to follow me and he did.

"I'm home!" I shouted into the house. There was no response.

_She must have stepped out._

I turned to welcome Roxas to my house, but he was gone. I looked around and found him in the living room looking at pictures of me as a child with my friends.

"You make it seem like you've never seen normal house décor before," I pointed out.

Roxas looked at me. "I haven't. This is the first real home I've been to. Everything at headquarters is just one color…pretty plain and empty really."

_Sounds more like a prison to me…_

"If you need me, I'll be on the other side in the kitchen getting something ready for lunch." I walked into the kitchen and decided to prepare curry rice.

"What's this?" Roxas asked, sitting at the kitchen table where a plate of curry rice was.

"Seriously? What do you they feed you? Geez, this is curry rice. It's a simple dish." I sat down across from him. "It's good. Try it!"

_I doubt he'd know if he had any allergies… Let's hope not._

"Ah!" Roxas looked pleased with the flavors.

We talked as we ate.

"I didn't see any pictures of your dad," Roxas said. "Your mom is pretty though. I see a little resemblance between you two."

_There is no picture of my mother on display though… He must be talking about my aunt._

"That's actually my aunt, Roxas. I live with her."

"Oh… Why don't you have any pictures with your parents?"

"I have one…in my room… Other than that, we don't really have any."

"I see…"

"Here, let me get it." I went up to my room and came back down with the old photo in my hands. I handed it to Roxas, warning him to take care when handling it.

"You look a lot like your mom!"

I leaned against my fist as I propped my elbow on the table. "Yeah…"

_If you count hair color as matching right now. Look at me again after puberty fully comes in._

"Where did you inherit your irises from?"

"My aunt told me it was a birth mark or something."

My father had green eyes while my mother had blue.

"Still, the resemblance is there..."

_I can pick out a few resemblances from each. I probably inherited more looks from their parents._

"What about you? How were you born?"

Roxas handed me back the photo. "I don't know… I just sort of appeared. I was just born like this."

I tried to imagine a woman giving birth to a full-grown teen Roxas.

_He probably doesn't mean he was born in this way._

"Magic really is something…"

"It must be nice to have parents."

"Yeah…it was nice…"

"Was?"

_Huh? Why can't I remember them that well right now? Some things are really hazy but…_

I shut my eyes and gritted my teeth.

_That night is still vividly in my memories._

"Mei? Are you okay?"

I looked up to see Roxas get up. He was worried about me. "I'm fine. I was just thinking."

Roxas seemed hesitant to ask again, but did so anyways. "What did you mean by 'was'?"

I sighed, standing up to put the dishes away. "My parents died when I was young and I had to move in with my aunt here. She's all the family I have left."

"…" Roxas didn't speak. He just gazed down sadly as I washed the plates. I made sure everything was back where it was supposed to be before I decided to break the silence.

"Roxas, it was a long time ago. I'm older now. I miss them a lot, but I can't change the past. I have to keep moving forward."

"I shouldn't have brought it up…"

"You were bound to find out." We went to the front door to leave just as the door opened to reveal my aunt.

"Oh, Mei, you're ho- Oh hello." My mom stared at Roxas.

I stood between the two. "Aunt Molly, this is Roxas. Roxas, meet my aunt."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Roxas," my aunt greeted, shaking his hand.

"Same…" Roxas looked uncomfortable and shy.

"We were just about to leave." I grabbed Roxas' wrist and tugged him along. "I'll be home for dinner! Bye!"

Axel, Roxas, and I had our usual meeting with our normal jokes and outrageous stories. Roxas never told Axel that I knew about them now, but it was okay. It's only been a day. I said my goodbyes to the duo and made my way down the stairs to the ground level.

**Axel's POV-**

"Something bugging you, Roxas?" I asked, noticing him look more down than usual. "Woman problems?"

"Yeah…"

"…"

_Huh?_

"Wait, what?"

Roxas straightened his back and looked up at the sun. "I made Mei sad today. I made her remember something unpleasant…"

"What was that?"

"…her parents are dead. She lives with her only relative left, her aunt."

_I wouldn't have guessed that she had that kind of backstory…now I'm bummed._

"I just want to get her to smile again…"

I wrapped my arm around his shoulders, getting closer to him. "You know what can get a girl to smile? A gift."

"A gift? Like what?"

"Something she likes. Maybe not sea salt ice cream though since we have that everyday already."

"I got it! Thanks Axel! I'll see you later!" He got up and ran off to go do whatever he thought up in that head of his.

_Time to go face the wrath of woman herself._

I summoned a portal of darkness and walked through it to appear behind Mei. I put my hand on her shoulder. She jumped and I blocked her from kneeing me in the crotch.

"AXEL! When did you get there?!"

"I know you know."

Mei calmed down. "Roxas just told you?"

"Yeah…let's go with that."

"What'd you need? Or are you going to yell at me about finding out…"

"Let's take a seat." I motioned over to a nearby bench.

I asked her about yesterday and she explained how Roxas saved her from a Veil Lizard. I explained to her how creatures like that are formed.

"Darkness in people's hearts…" Mei put a hand up to her heart. "So if I were to succumb to the darkness and have my heart stolen by a Heartless… I would…" I nodded. "That sounds so unpleasant."

"After tomorrow, I will be leaving for a place called Castle Oblivion."

"Where's that?"

"Doesn't matter. It's not a place you can easily reach yourself. I'll be there on a mission and I don't know how long it'll take."

"Did you tell Roxas yet?"

"I'll tell him tomorrow. I just wanted to ask you to leave earlier than usual tomorrow so I could have a talk with him alone."

"No problem!"

_This is the girl that makes Roxas worry…_

"Make sure you don't get into any more fights while I'm gone. Get that memorized. I won't be around to go beating up some punk kids."

Mei laughed. "I'll do my best."

_She makes me worry too…_

"Just make sure that you stay safe yourself…" I looked over to Mei, surprised at her words. "You better come back." She stood up and held out her hand to me. Well her pinky finger anyways. "Okay?"

_Like some childish promise could affect the future._

Despite how ridiculous I found this, I happily did it anyways. "You can't get rid of me that easily. You better take care of Roxas while I'm away! He better not be deprived of sea salt ice cream!"

Mei laughed as I stood up. I was about to say my goodbyes for the day to her, but she caught me off guard with a hug. I slowly put my arms around her after getting over the initial shock. She let go of me and smiled at me warmly. "I'm glad we met that day on the clock tower. I got to meet Roxas because of you too. This isn't goodbye, but until we meet again. So see you around."

"See you…" Mei walked off, leaving me with a warm feeling.

_What is this? I'm just faking these emotions. I can't be…_

**Mei's POV-**

_Axel genuinely thinks of me as his friend! He even told me that he was going to be away! He didn't lie about being a carpenter or try to convince me to leave their lives._

I was in a great mood. Nothing could make me feel down now.

"Mei!"

"Huh? Roxas?" I turned around, hearding Roxas' voice. I saw him run over with something behind his back.

"I'm sorry for making you remember bad memories earlier about your family."

_So much for my good mood…_

I frowned and looked away from him. "It's fine…"

"Whenever you get sad thinking about them just look at this." I looked over at Roxas, confused just as he revealed what he was hiding behind his back. I gasped. "Y-You actually got it?"

In Roxas' hand was the bear from the arcade's claw machine.

"It took some time, but I managed to get it!" Roxas grinned proudly as I took the bear from him. "When you miss someone you love, just look at this bear and hug it. Just know that no matter the distance, they will always be with you."

I looked up at Roxas feeling weird. My vision was getting blurry and I blinked to feel wet tears roll down my face.

_That was something cheesy Roxas…_

"I made you more upset, didn't I?"

"No." I wiped my eyes and hugged the bear. "I'm really happy Roxas." I walked over to him and embraced him with a hug. Just like Axel, he was stiff, but loosened up and hugged me back. Unlike my hug with Axel, we held each other longer. I didn't want to leave his warm, strong arms. My emotions were all over the place. I just knew I was satisfied with my life in this moment overall.

When I got home later that day, I put the bear beside me as I slept. I thought back to the hug and blushed, pulling the bear to me.

_I wish you were both alive to have met Roxas…mother…father…_

**Roxas' POV-**

I was flung backwards across the floor by a Soldier. "Ugh." The soldier came at me with their claws at the ready.

"Aero!" A gust of wind shielded me and pushed the Soldier back. I looked over at the source of the aero magic to see Mei running over in her school uniform.

"Are you alright, Roxas?" she asked me as she helped me up.

"M-Mei?! Since when can you use magic?" I was shocked.

"Did you hit your head when you fell? I've always been able to use magic. Geez, let's finish off this Soldier so we can meet up with Axel with some sweet after mission treats."

_Am I missing something here?!_

"I'll cover you with barrier when you get close. Once the Soldier gets caught off balance from hitting the barrier, go in for the kill with your combo," Mei instructed me. I nodded, going along with this strange scenario.

I dashed over to the Soldier who ran in turn to me. "Barrier!" I was covered by a shield that knocked the Soldier down on the ground after hitting it claws on the shield. I went in for the kill and defeated it. Mei ran over to me and jumped within a meter of me causing me to catch her around her waist as she wrapped her arms around my neck.

"You did it, Roxas! We're a good team, aren't we?"

I put Mei down. "Y-Yeah."

"You don't look good, Roxas… Here." Mei put her hands on my shoulders and her palms glowed green. The light pulsated onto my body. She was curing my health. "Better?" I nodded, not really sure what to do other than that. "Let's go pick up the ice cream this time then." She linked her arm with mine and we walked off. "We've been making Axel pay for the past week, not that I mind that. Haha!"

_This is strange…_

The entire walk to the store and to the clock tower, Mei was hugging my arm to her, leaning her cheek into my shoulder. People gave us looks that made me feel embarrassed, but I didn't tell her to stop.

Axel was already waiting for us. He whistled, "Have fun in paradise you two love-birds?"

"L-Love-birds?"

Mei let go of me and shoved Axel playfully. "Go find a girl already or you'll die alone."

"I'll have you know! I have the ladies lining up! I'm choosing not to get a relationship right now because your kind is too complicated."

"Well, on behalf of my kind…" Mei bowed. "We are sorry and thank you for not pursuing us. All the lives you have spared by not going after us. It's like a dream."

"I am great, aren't I?"

_Like a dream? That's what this feels like right now._

"Roxas, sit down." Mei said to me. I sat down next to Axel with Mei on the other side of Axel. They both frowned.

"Are you mad at Mei?" Axel asked me before turning to Mei. "Did you two fight?"

"We didn't," Mei replied, frowning at me. "He was acting weird during the mission too."

"What?" I asked.

_What am I doing wrong?_

"You're not going to sit next to your girlfriend? I mean, it's fine not to be together all the time, but you told me in confidence that you didn't want me to be a cock-block all the time."

"Really?" Mei asked, snickering. "How cute."

_Girlfriend?_

"He loves you that much, Mei. You're both taking each other away from me. Ah, Roxas, I'm surprised you're not trying to kill me for telling Mei what you told me."

"I-It's fine." I didn't understand what was happening still, but I changed my seat to sit next to Mei and felt instantly calm and relaxed. After eating our ice cream, I laid my head on Mei's lap and closed my eyes while she and Axel talked about missions. Everything felt great in the world. I felt content even if I had so many unanswered questions.

I opened my eyes a little, feeling Mei's delicate finger tips brushing the hair on my forehead.

"It's about time to RTC," she said to me.

"Oh…" I sat up and rubbed my eyes, yawning.

"Sleep well?" she asked, getting up, dusting off her skirt.

"Yeah… I didn't even know I knocked out," I replied, getting up myself to see Axel waiting for us.

He rolled his eyes and opened a portal, stepping halfway through it.

"Just kiss already and head back before they start to notice," Axel said before leaving.

"H-Hey! That's none of your business!" Mei shouted after him, her face flushed with pink shades. I looked at her, confused. She looked over at me shyly and tucked her hair behind one ear. I didn't know what I was doing at this point. My body moved itself and I put my hands on her waist, pulling her to me. Our faces were slowly getting closer, Mei's eyes closing as she puckered up her lips. I think I was doing the same thing too. Our lips started to close the distance and-

"Ugh!" I rubbed my head to see the floor from my room in the castle. "A dream?" I panicked. "Nobodies don't dream though!"

Axel and I were assigned for the same mission. I decided to ask him about my dream after we finished.

"That's the last of them. Whew!" Axel said, wiping his forehead.

"Yeah…"

"Something wrong?"

"Nobodies…aren't supposed to dream, right?"

"Not really, unless you're remembering your past…"

"…I see."

"Did you remember something?"

"No, I just had this really strange dream…"

"You and strange? Well I'm all ears."

I took a deep breath. "Well…for starters, I should tell you that I told Mei about…us…"

After explaining what I told Mei and my dream, Axel look at me thoughtfully.

"What do you think?" I asked him.

"I think you really like Mei."

"Of course I do. She's my friend."

"You want to be around her as much as possible too."

"…I just get worried she'll be picked on if we leave her alone…"

Axel started laughing and said not to worry about the dream I had.

Later on we met up with Mei and I felt like I needed to do something but couldn't and it made me feel bad that I couldn't do the thing I didn't know I wanted to do. What is this feeling called? Anxiousness?

Mei decided to head on out earlier than usual, saying she had to help her aunt with dinner today. She gave Axel a fist-bump and patted my shoulder before she left. A part of me wished she gave me a hug before she left and not some measly pat.

I sighed louder than I meant to, causing Axel to start laughing at me for some reason. After he quieted down things became peaceful.

"You know… I'm going to miss this ice cream thing we all do…"

"Huh?" I looked up at him in confusion as Axel just continued to stare forward.

"Gonna be away for a while…starting tomorrow."

"Really…" I felt sad.

"I can fill you in since we're friends. I'm going to be at Castle Oblivion."

"Castle Oblivion?"

_I've never heard of that place before._

"The Organization's got a second castle in the World Between Worlds. It's called Castle Oblivion. Got it memorized?"

"I wish somebody told me these things."

_No one ever tells me anything…_

"Roxas…just stay by Mei's side and protect her while I'm gone. Still keep on the tradition with her until I get back, got it memorized? Don't worry about your dream. I'm starting to understand what's happening now. Try thinking of Mei in a new light instead of what you always see her as."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Axel shook his head and got up. "I gotta head back and get ready. Nothing but fun fun fun…" With that he left, leaving me by myself. I finished my ice cream and saw the word 'WINNER' on it.

_I wonder what I won…_

"_Day 22 – Axel is going someplace called Castle Oblivion. He told me because we're friends. He had to go home early to get ready, and after he left I noticed the word 'WINNER' on my ice cream stick. I wonder what I won… I'll ask him when I see him tomorrow.'_

'_Axel went from telling me to stay away from Mei from telling me not to leave her side. What's with the change of heart? He's never straightforward with me. What does it mean to look at someone in a 'new light'? It can't be literal… I've been feeling weird around Mei too. If Axel didn't tell me to watch over her, I think I may have avoided her until I got this feeling under control. I better get to sleep now…hopefully I won't have a strange dream again."_

The next day I found out Axel had already left by the time I woke up. I wasn't able to ask him about the stick, but I decided to just keep it on me and ask Mei about it later. Today, I was paired to work with Xion. She kept her hood on the entire time and didn't even talk to me once even when I spoke to her. I guess that is just her personality. I just sent her home ahead of me and went off to kill time before meeting up with Mei. I remember she told me her friends were coming back today so I shouldn't take her from them.

**Mei's POV-**

I was running late to the hideout where everyone agreed to meet today.

_Hayner is going to kill me._

I quietly entered and saw their backs to me.

"Where is Mei?" Olette questioned with a worried look on her face. "I hope nothing bad happened while we were gone…"

"How dare she make me wait!" Hayner shouted, stomping his foot around.

"I could have slept in more…," Pence complained, rubbing his eyes.

"That wench," Hayner said, cracking his knuckles. "I'll teach her a lesson she won't forget when she gets here."

I glared daggers into Hayner's back.

_Wench?_

My eyebrow twitched as I quietly made my way behind my friends. I clasped my hand on Hayner's shoulder harshly huffing and puffing. "I'm ready for my lesson, SENSEI." I made sure I said the last part harshly. "The wench is ready to learn."

He screamed like a girl for a second, on his knees, begging for forgiveness as I laughed evilly.

"Ah, you're here Mei!" Olette said, pushing Hayner off to the side to grab my hands in hers.

I smiled sweetly at her. "How was your trip?"

"I got a bunch of money from my relatives, but other than that I was pretty bored. I wish you came with me…"

"That would have been awkward for me and your family."

Olette puffed her cheeks, displeased with my response. "They adore you!"

Pence stepped on Hayner, who was still on the floor where Olette pushed him, on his way to me. "Anything interesting happen?"

"Nothing like a robbery or explosion," I replied.

Hayner crawled into a corner, growing mushrooms. "I'm being ignored… No one cares about me… I'm a worthless use of space…"

Olette looked over at Hayner and smiled. "Hayner." Hayner turned around with a bright smile full of anticipation. Or it was until Olette's smile turned dark. "Are you growing mushrooms in the hideout again?"

"N-No!" He ripped them all out and threw them away.

Pence and I broke into laughter while Olette questioned how Hayner even got mushrooms to grow.

_There's our fearless leader for you._

"Mei, why do you have all these bandages on you?" Pencer asked when I slipped off my jacket. Olette pushed her way through as well as Hayner to get a good look of me.

I thought back to Seifer and his gang and then to Roxas and Axel.

"Seifer was being…a nuisance," I admitted, sighing.

_I don't want to bring up Roxas and Axel just yet…_

Hayner and Olette's faces darkened and Pence hid behind me in fear of their venomous aura. I laughed awkwardly, trying to calm them down. "It wasn't that bad. I made some new friends and they helped me out." I smiled at the memory of Axel beating up Seifer and Roxas trying to defend me from being dragged away by Seifer.

"You still got hurt though!" Olette pouted at me.

_I can't really tell them that most of these injuries were from a battle with a Veil Lizard… Can I? They'll think Seifer did a number on my head._

"We can settle this with his group next time we all meet, okay?" I reasoned. "No reason to waste this reunion on thinking of those pieces of trash." I linked my arm with Olette's. "Come on, let's go down to Market Street and look for any new shipments."

The four of us left. They guys just caught up with each other when Olette and I walked into a store. We later went to an arcade where Hayner challenged me to Dance Dance Revolution, claiming he would wipe the floor with me and embarrass me since I was late to the meeting in the hideout. Only, things didn't go how he wanted them to. I was the one who wiped the floor with him.

"We've been playing here since we were this big," I said to the exhausted Hayner. "You never beat me at it before. Why did you think today would be any different?"

"S-Shut up!" Hayner said breathlessly to me as Olette handed him a water bottle.

"You're not mad at me, are you Hayner?" I gave him a puppy-dog face. He threw his water bottle at me, which I caught. "He's so violent today. He must be going through that rebellious stage." I pulled out a tissue and held it to my face, pretending to sniff as if I was going to cry.

Later in the day, when we were walking home in the same direction, we divided off into two groups by gender. Olette was telling me about how handsome her older cousins became since she saw them last Christmas. I wasn't that interested in hearing about that. When she brought up boys and looks, my mind wandered to Roxas and yesterday when he won me the bear from before just to cheer me up. Olette seemed to catch on that I was not interested in what she was saying but something else because…

"Mei, did you meet someone?"

I tripped, but managed to stabilize myself. "W-What?!"

"Come on. Tell me. Who's this guy that caught your eye?"

"I-I wouldn't really say he caught my eye… He is definitely interesting…"

_He wields a keyblade and can use magic._

"So there is a guy! What's his name? Have I met him before? Does he go to our school?"

"U-Umm."

"What are you two yelling about?" Hayner asked.

"Mei likes a boy," Olette said, grabbing and digging her nails into my arm.

"You're into boys?" Pence asked, surprised.

"…I hate you all…" I glared at them.

Hayner put his hands on my shoulders with an award winning grin. "What's his name?"

_He wants to beat him up…_

I stuck my tongue out and ran away from them.

"Is she eloping with him?!" Olette shouted out.

"I'll kill him! Pence, get my shotgun!" Hayner shouted out.

"You'll need more than a shotgun!" Pence replied as I got away.

_I hate them, but I gotta love them._

I met up with Roxas at the usual spot.

"Hey stranger," I said plopping down next to him. He handed me an ice cream. Something seemed off about him today though in that he seemed more on-edge.

"S-So Axel is off on a mission for a while."

"He told me two days ago. He wanted me to give you guys some alone time yesterday."

"Oh, that's why you left early."

"Yeah, are you alright Roxas? You seem kind of stiff today."

"I'm normal. Nothing is wrong. Why would something be wrong?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I see… I'm glad to know nothing is wrong with you."

_He's totally lying._

We talked about his mission today and how he had a new partner who didn't even talk at all. He didn't even know what they looked like and he wasn't even sure about their gender. He said the name was Xion.

I, in turn, talked about my day with my friends.

"They all think I have a crush on you," I said, laughing. "Isn't that crazy? Good thing I didn't tell them your name. They'd confront you."

"A crush on me?" His voice sounded high all of a sudden. I looked over to see him looking away from me. "That's strange all right."

I furrowed my brows. "How would that be strange? A girl falling for a guy is perfectly normal."

"I didn't mean it like that!"

"What did you mean then?"

"Just that uhh…people don't fall for each other that quickly… People like you."

"People like me?" I looked out in the distance.

_You mean people with hearts?_

"I may not exactly know the situation of your work and who you are, but no one chooses who they fall in love with… I must sound pretty ignorant, but love comes in all different types of forms… Like you've never thought of dating someone and having a connection… I believe in cliché stuff like finding your true love one day…as silly as it sounds."

"… I don't know things like this…"

"Things like what, Roxas?"

"Things like love." I turned to look at Roxas who looked back at me in fear. "What does it feel like? How do you know you're in it? How do you know if it's possible?"

"…" I didn't know what to say. How could I answer him when there is no real answer in the world? I've never even experienced things like this. Yeah, I've once in a while fangirled with Olette over some cute guys on TV, magazines, and the occasional passerby, but it wasn't actual love.

_But…maybe I can begin to understand…_

My face flushed and my heart started to race once I realized my thought.

"…At first… I don't think we know if it's true love or if were even in love… Once day we wake up and we realize it's there. We trip down the stairs and out of nowhere we think of that person rather than ourselves."

We ate in silence for a while. Neither one of us wanted to leave and neither one of us knew what we could say.

_Do I…like Roxas…? Maybe this is just a hero complex since he saved me… I just like his company…_

I thought about the bear he gave me.

_You don't just do that to a girl and get her feelings all riled up! I need to test this! I-I mean prove to myself that I just like him as a friend._

"Roxas."

"Yeah?"

I cleared my throat. "Let's go on a date tomorrow after your mission."

"…" He just stared at me as if he was still trying to process what I just said. "…"

"Well?"

He looked away from me, hiding his face. "S-Sure."

We parted shortly after the agreement. I couldn't help but feel accomplished after I got to my front door. Feelings are strange things and I'm still young. I have a lot of time to figure these things out.

**Roxas' POV-**

The next day was no different. I was sent on another mission with Xion and we finished as normal.

_I need to go find Mei…_

"I've got someplace to be again today, so go on ahead without me." I didn't expect Xion to reply, just to listen. That's all they've ever done anyways.

As I made my way past them something unexpected happened.

"R…Roxas…"

"Huh?" I turned around to face Xion. "Xion…?"

_Was that…?_

"Roxas is your name."

"Yeah…" They walked away from me as my vision faded to a scene of me first getting my name and also when I was first being asked to join the Organization.

I shook away those thoughts and ran off to find Mei.

**Mei's POV-**

I fixed my skirt, feeling a little ridiculous for checking myself every few seconds. Roxas and I agreed to meet in the park and now I just had to wait for him to finish his mission.

I pulled up my socks even though they were fine.

I was wearing a white, short-sleeved dress shirt with a mint-colored brace skirt. I wore thigh-high white socks and black doll shoes. I curled my hair slightly and braided two strands of my hair from each front side of my head to the back to be pinned with a big clip.

"Ah!" I stood up and rose up my arm to wave. "Roxas! Over here!"

He spotted me and ran over. "Hey, sorry for the wait."

"It's nothing. I wasn't even waiting that long."

_No way am I telling him I've been here for an hour and a half._

"So, what do we do now?"

"You've never been on a date before, huh?"

"Is it that obvious?" Roxas rubbed the back of his head.

I winked. "Just a little." I grabbed his wrist. "Come on. If we're going to go on a date, you should at least be in something casual too."

"Hey! Hold on!"

**.**

**.**

**.**

"Do…I look weird?"

Roxas walked out wearing cargo shorts, red and black sneakers, an orange tank top with a yellow image of a sunset on the front, and a short sleeved gray sweater that was left unzipped with a matching hood.

_He looks more like he lives here now._

"Not at all." I smiled and went over to him, linking arms with him. "I think you look rather handsome in some normal clothes. It's nice to see what's under that entire black cloak."

Roxas blushed lightly from my comment and pulled his hood over his head in an attempt to hide his face. "Let's go to the next place already."

I laughed, holding a bag full of his usual clothes with my free hand. He stuffed his hands in his pockets as we walked side by side with our arms linked down the streets of Twilight Town.

**Roxas' POV-**

I wasn't used to wearing anything but the Organization uniform. I felt a little self-conscious as we walked, but no one was looking at me. Mei led me to the train station.

I raised my brow at her as she grinned at me. "What did you have in mind actually?"

She ignored me and turned to a clerk, sliding money over. "Two please!"

"Where are we going?" I tried to ask her again but she just brushed it off and pulled me along to the incoming train, saying everything was a secret. We got on the train and sat across from one another.

"Have you ever been on a train before, Roxas?"

"No… What do people do on dates exactly?"

"Well…they just hang out and go places together."

"Axel said that it's something people in love do."

"Yeah, and we're just testing the waters right now."

"… You lost me."

Mei sighed. "Do I need to point everything out to you? Let's see if there is a possibility that we'll fall in love with each other. Let's see if we have an interest in being more than just friends."

_W-Why do we need to think about that?! We're just friends!_

I thought back to the dream I had.

_Why did I have a dream where I was dating her?! Was Axel trying to tell me it was a sign? Maybe it was foretelling the future?_

"We're here!" Mei shouted, getting me out of my thoughts. I looked out the window.

"The ocean?"

"The beach!"

We walked out together and went over to some restaurant that was beside the ocean.

"We're going to be having dinner here," Mei said to me handing the bag of my clothes to a waiter who took it to be stored. "But for now, let's have some fun!"

_Fun?_

We spent the next few hours building sand castles, taking off our shoes and socks so we could play in the ocean and splash each other, and shell picking.

I held both of our shoes while Mei collected shells.

"Aren't they pretty?" she asked me, showing me shells of different shades. Some pretty and others average looking. It was like a metaphor for the kind of person she was. She accepted all kinds of people.

_I mean, she accepted a Nobody like me._

Mei gasped and dropped her shells. I looked up from my thoughts to see what frightened her. She went behind me as a group of Shadow Heartless appeared.

"Stay back Mei," I said sternly as I tossed her shoes over to her and slipped on my own. I summoned my keyblade and got into a stance.

"Be careful," she said to me as I ran forward to attack.

**Mei's POV-**

I stood there, watching Roxas fight off Heartless. I felt useless. I couldn't do anything to help him, even if he didn't seem to need it.

_I wish I was special enough to have powers… I'm just…normal…and helpless…_

"Eh?"

I felt something on my leg and looked down to see a small Heartless clinging to my leg, looking up at me with its yellow glowing eyes. It looked kind of cute, except for the fact that Axel warned me that they could steal hearts by bringing out the darkness in people.

I screamed, throwing it off of me. Roxas heard me and shouted out a spell that shot out a ball of fire to the Heartless.

"Are you okay?" he asked me after finishing off the last of the Heartless. I nodded and hugged him, burying my face into his shoulder.

_I'm not strong enough for this kind of stuff… My weakness makes me vulnerable… I get affected by something that Roxas can just kick off in a snap._

"Hey, let's head over to the restaurant now," he said after holding me for a few minutes. He kept his arm over my shoulders so that I could hug him from his side. Before we walked in, he whispered to me, "I told you I would always protect you."

I let go of him as he walked inside, holding the door open for me.

"Roxas…"

_For this weak girl…you'd still protect me? I have nothing to offer but my company._

"Coming?"

I smiled and nodded, walking in. We sat at an outdoor table and ordered spicy tuna rolls as well as some lobster pasta.

"The reflection of the sky is pretty neat," Roxas said.

I agreed with him. "Try this." I picked up a roll with my chopsticks and leaned over to put it near his mouth. He opened his mouth and ate it.

"It's a little spicy."

"Hence why it's called a 'spicy tuna roll'."

"Shut up," he cursed bashfully.

I grinned, teasing him about everything I could think of.

**Roxas' POV-**

I made sure to change back into my uniform before returning to the castle. I walked Mei home and gave her the clothes to keep for me.

"_Day 24 - I teamed up with No. XIV again today. We finally talked a little—Xion even said my name for the first time. I forgot to ask about the 'WINNER' stick to Mei since Axel left before I could ask him.'_

'_I think it was a good idea to have a date to think about us. It's a pleasant thought to think of dating Mei, but it won't work out. We're two different kinds of human and I wouldn't want to put her through such pain. It would be hard to love someone who can't love back too.'_

'_Just being friends is good enough for me."_

**Mei's POV-**

"Dammit. Gosh, why me? Why him?"

I banged my head on my pillow.

_I like him…a lot…_

**Roxas' POV-**

Today, Xion showed me her face before our mission today and I found out she was a girl because of it. Not only is she a girl, but she could wield a keyblade just like me! I wasn't alone anymore, but I still didn't know why I was chosen to wield it. Usually after our missions I just left Xion to meet up with Mei, but today was a new day. I felt closer to Xion more and decided on making an executive decision.

"Xion, you've earned the icing on the cake," I said to her happily.

"What is the 'icing on the cake'?"

"Come on, I'll show you."

_Mei will love to meet you. I'm sure you two will hit it off nicely._

**Mei's POV-**

"Come on, you can tell me, Mei. We're best friends!" Olette whined.

Olette decided to come to my house before breakfast to pester me about the 'mystery guy'. I was trying to go back to sleep while she sat at the foot of my bed, shaking my legs through the covers.

"Go away," I grumbled. "It's too early for this."

"MEIIII!" Olette lied down behind me in my bed. She started poking me from behind before I turned around in frustration. I hid half my face with my blanket, showing only my eyes that were glaring daggers at Olette.

"What?" I said darkly as we stared at one another.

After a moment of silence, we both started cracking up.

"You do not give up," I said.

"Nope!"

_I have the best friends ever._

I groaned and pulled myself up out of bed. "You win."

Olette hugged me from behind. "I always win with you. Now spill."

I stretched my arms and turned to face her. "There's nothing much to say…"

"Name?"

"You don't know him."

"Let me try to!"

"I'm not even that sure if I really want to be with him romantically."

"Do it."

"What?"

"If you're even thinking of it like this then that just shows that you care about him to the extent of thinking of him constantly."

"… He would probably see us as too different…"

"Isn't that fine? If you love someone strongly enough then you would be willing to take chances. It sounds kind of romantic to think you are from two different worlds."

_She probably thinks he's rich or poor like this is some kind of drama._

"I've never been in a relationship before and neither has he for that matter."

"Then it's uncharted territory for both of you!"

"Uncharted territory?"

"Yeah, you're both new to love and dating. How long have you known him?"

"Maybe a few weeks, I guess you can say."

"And I'm only hearing about this now?!"

Olette started to wrestle me in a fit of not knowing everything sooner. All the while, I had one thought in my mind.

_Uncharted territory? Feels more like uncharted desires to me… I can't think of when I started to fall for him…_

In the end, Olette convinced me into telling Roxas about my feelings. Somehow, I forgot to tell her his name and so did she.

_I'll tell him at the clock tower today!_

**Roxas' POV-**

"This is such a great spot, Roxas. How'd you find it?" Xion asked me as we sat down on the ledge. I smiled and handed her a stick of sea salt ice cream. "What's this?"

"Sea salt ice cream. It's good, try it!"

"It's sweet…and salty."

"It's good right? Axel and I, we meet here for ice cream around this time after work. This flavor is his favorite."

"It sounds like it's yours too."

"Yeah. You see, Axel brought me here to eat ice cream on my first day with the Organization and after my first mission he got me ice cream again. He said it was the 'icing on the cake'."

"Like you just did for me?"

"Yeah. Around the first few times of us doing this ice cream thing, we met Mei."

"Mei? Who's that?"

I thought about it. I know what I feel but putting what I feel into words was hard. "Mei lives in this town and she's someone with a heart. She knows about our existence… Ah! She wouldn't do anything bad though! She's really outgoing and funny. Nice person to be around, especially if you're sad. She makes you feel like…you're whole…like you have a heart with feelings and all. She makes the impossible feel possible…even when it just seems like some hopeless dream." I blushed.

_Did I really just say all of that out loud?_

"…You guys must be really close…"

"Yeah well, Axel, Mei and I are friends."

_Just friends._

"Friends… Do you think that I could be a friend too?"

"Of course! When Axel gets back, we'll all have ice cream together! Mei should be here any minute now to join us! For now, let's just introduce you two."

"I can't-"

"Sorry I'm late Roxas!" Mei shouted, bursting through from the darkness of the clock tower. "I was having a girl's day with Olette."

I chuckled. "It's fine. Here." I tossed her a bar. She caught it and thanked me before her eyes wandered over to where Xion was.

"I don't believe we've met before." Mei sat on the other side of me, holding out her hand to shake. "My name is Mei."

Xion started at her hand, unsure of what to do. I motioned for her to shake it. "Xion."

**Mei's POV-**

"Xion… I've heard about you a little from Roxas. I didn't know you were a girl." I laughed. "He didn't know either. I'm glad you got out of your shy shell."

"Shy shell?" she questioned.

_Roxas, I come here ready to pour out my heart to you and I find you here with another girl? Granted, they are both just coworkers…but I thought this spot was just our spot… Axel, you, and me…_

I made sure that Roxas couldn't tell I was disappointed and a little jealous.

"Ah, I mean that you were more to yourself and now you're opening up," I clarified.

"Oh, before I forget. Mei, do you happen to know what this is?" Roxas pulled out a stick that said 'WINNER' on it.

I gasped. "You actually got one! I thought they were an urban myth used as a marketing tool to get consumers to buy more of the product!"

"…What?"

I laughed awkwardly. "Sorry. Basically, it's a promotion they have. If you get a stick that says 'WINNER' on it, you get to turn it in for a free ice cream with your choice of flavor! Why do you think Axel and I get disappointed when we end up with nothing?"

"I thought it was just something people did when they ate ice cream."

"… No… That's not what we do." I sweat-dropped.

Much to my disappointment, Xion and Roxas left together. Xion is a nice girl. Still very quiet like how Roxas was when I first met him, but she's nice. She doesn't seem to have any romantic feelings for Roxas and Roxas is acting really friendly. It seems a bit out of character of him to, but I could just be rubbing off on him now. Better me than Axel's example.

_I'll pull Roxas aside and ask him if we can have a talk in private tomorrow!_

**Roxas' POV-**

"_Day 25 – Today was my third day with Xion. I've gotten to know a little more about her. That's right, she's a girl with black hair and she can use the keyblade just like me! I took her out for ice cream after our mission, but I'm saving the 'WINNER' stick that Mei told me about. Axel deserves a reward when he gets back._

'_Xion wants to have ice cream with us from now on. Maybe we'll all be friends.'_

'_Speaking of friends, I forgot to tell Mei about what I was thinking… I'll talk to her tomorrow about it. Hopefully I remember."_

The next day, I woke up and found out someone was terminated at Castle Oblivion. Saix says it was most likely Axel.

"What happens when Heartless are destroyed?" I asked Xigbar. I had a lot of burning questions on my mind.

"The hearts remain and then those hearts gather together to form the great Kingdom Hearts."

"Then what remains if a Nobody if destroyed?"

"What's there to leave behind? We're not even supposed to 'be' in the first place."

_I'm not on the same par with Mei at all. I wasn't supposed to even be born._

"And the members at Castle Oblivion… Where did they go?"

"Nothing's left of them."

"In which case… I'll never see them again?"

_Axel…_

"That's right." Xigbar didn't seem to have any remorse for them as he summoned a portal. "Coming?"

"Oh yeah, I'll catch up with you later at the castle though." I stepped forward to go over to the portal when out of nowhere my head started hurting and I didn't know what was going on. Everything turned black in a matter of seconds.

**Mei's POV-**

I came to the clock tower a bit earlier than usual. I woke up with a bad feeling in my chest today that I just couldn't calm. Roxas didn't show up, instead Xion did. She looked just as surprised as I did that Roxas wasn't here.

"Roxas wasn't on a mission with you today?" I asked.

She shook her head and took a seat next to me. I handed her a stick and we ate in silence, thinking he'd just show up any minute now. Fifteen minutes had passed.

"I hope he's okay," I whispered to myself.

"I'm sure he is," Xion said, patting my shoulder.

I smiled over at her. She was a really nice girl.

I leaned back in my seat. "You know, when I first met you yesterday, I have to admit I was jealous."

"Jealous? What's that?"

"Ah, right. Feelings are new for you guys. Jealousy is when you wish you were someone else or wish you had something another person had all to yourself. That's one way to put it…rather awkwardly I might add."

"You wished you were me?"

"Ehh… I just realized yesterday that Roxas isn't someone I can have all to myself. I guess having Axel away had made me get greedy. It was just new to see Roxas so energetic about you eating with us yesterday that I just wished he could have done the same to seeing me yesterday."

"I'm sorry…"

"No! You don't need to apologize. I should be the one apologizing. I wasn't being as earnest with you as I should have been. Since it doesn't seem like Roxas is showing up today, we can just use this time to get to know each other more."

_I'm guessing I'll do most of the talking considering you guys don't even know a lot._

**.**

**.**

"So you guys are called Organization XIII and you have fourteen members? You being fourteen and Roxas being thirteen?"

_Why still be called Organization XIII then?_

"Yeah, I'm the newest member."

"Only girl?"

"No, there's one other girl named Larxene."

"Showing girl power! Speaking of power, Roxas uses a keyblade, what about you?"

"Funny story," she chuckled. "I use a keyblade too."

"That's cool! I wish I could summon something like that."

"You mean you can't summon a weapon?"

"No… I'm just a normal, average girl. I wish I could learn magic though. Roxas said maybe to me about it, but I think he really means no."

"I can teach you."

"R-Really?!"

"Yeah, I don't see why not."

I got up and wrapped my arms around Xion. "I love you, Xion! I'm so psyched! Ah…let's keep this a secret from Roxas. I want to surprise him."

Xion nodded. "Mei…your face is red."

"I-It is?" I put my hand on my warm cheeks. "I'm sensitive to heat is all!"

On my way home, I passed by the hole in the wall that led to the Old Mansion. That nagging feeling in my chest returned. I sighed and shook my head.

"I'm just overthinking this." I looked back at the hole again one last time.

_I hope I'm just being paranoid…_

**Xion's POV-**

_I didn't see Roxas at all today…_

I was on a solo mission in Twilight Town today. It was just a normal sweep of the area: getting rid of the Heartless.

I thought about how sad Mei was when we were waiting for Roxas.

_Maybe he's on a long mission… A stakeout? There has to be a good reason._

"Xion?"

I turned around, wondering who could be calling me in the middle of my mission.

"…Mei?"

Said girl ran over to me in her blue overall shorts. "On a mission?" I nodded. "I wish I could help."

I heard Mei sigh and mutter under her breath, "I thought you were Roxas…"

_I don't think she wanted me to hear that… I'll pretend I didn't._

I didn't want Mei to frown, even for a second. The only thing I could think of to keep her mind off of whatever is making her sad was:

"How about I try to teach you magic?"

"R-Right now?"

I nodded. "I may not be the best teacher, but we can practice on some Heartless."

Mei embraced me into a tight hug. I wasn't used to this kind of warmth. I liked it.

"So what's first, teacher?"

"Um…"

_How did I even learn in the first place?_

"Just…picture what you want to happen. Let's start with a basic fire spell. Let me show you." I spotted a lone Shadow nearby and held my hand out. "Fire!" A ball of fire shot out of my hand and hit the Shadow, destroying it.

Mei gaped at me in amazement. "A-Amazing!"

"You've never seen magic before?"

"I've seen TV animation magic and magic tricks. The closest to magic I've ever gotten was those magic kits when I was younger. I used to have magic shows where Hayner was my lovely assistant."

"Hayner?"

"He's one of my friends. Let me try to mimic what I saw." She pointed at another Shadow. She furrowed her brows and held her hand out. "Fire!"

Nothing happened.

I rubbed my chin. "Try relaxing your body. Try to feel the magic flowing through you…through your fingertips. Then picture what you want to happen and let it go. That's what I do…"

Mei puffed her cheeks. "I'll work on it, just do your thing."

I worked on completing my mission with Mei over my shoulder, trying to shoot out a ball of fire from her hands.

_She really isn't giving up. She's started to get red in the face. That's the opposite of relaxing._

I couldn't help but left out a small chuckle at Mei falling back on the floor in exhaustion even though I was the one taking out Heartless.

"Aha! You laughed!" Mei shouted, grinning and pointing at me from the ground.

_Did I?_

I scratched the back of my head, not sure how to react in this situation. Mei sat up and held her hand out.

"No matter what, I won't give up trying to learn how to do magic. I've always childishly dreamed of being able to do real magic and not just illusionary tricks. I have to be useful to you guys. I don't like that I'm aware of just how weak and helpless I am now even when I grew up here being pushed around by the local thugs. I want to get stronger to protect the people I care about so they won't worry much about me anymore. I'm tired of being some porcelain doll people are scared of shattering. Thank you for helping me even though the real journey is something only I can undertake. I'm glad to call you one of my friends."

_Friends…?_

I took her hand. It all happened in on fluid motion. Even I didn't see it coming. I pulled her up with both of my hands while her pupils became small and her face paled. Her mouth opened but said nothing except the words, "Protect, Xion."

I was pushed off to the side onto the floor as a pendant slipped out of Mei's top; glowing a yellow, off-white hue like the heart moon. Mei had her arms in an 'x' shape in front of her as she hunched her body so her head would be behind the 'x' as a Neoshadow came down with its claws. A shield appeared in its globe-like fashion over the both of us before impact could be made. Mei's eyes were shut tightly as the Neoshadow was repelled back a few feet. The barrier went down and Mei opened one eye to see the Neoshadow coming back. I quickly got up in the frenzy of my shock and summoned my keyblade.

I leaped forward to attack the Neoshadow. All was going fine before I messed up my combo. I shut my eyes, ready to meet the impact that would surely come down on my back.

"NOO!"

But it never came. I opened my eyes and looked up to see the Neoshadow was frozen in place. I didn't waste this opportunity and finished it off with a thunder and a swing of my blade.

I looked over to where I last saw Mei standing only to see her collapsed on the ground. I ran over to her in panic thinking she was hit without me noticing. She was alive, but knocked out.

_That was barrier and stop…even I can't use those yet… Who did they come from?_

I thought back to when Mei was trying to perform a fire spell and then to when her pendant glowed and all this shock begun.

The pendant on Mei was not glowing anymore. It was just a plain clear pebble. Pebbles aren't typically clear though. Was it a gem?

To be safe, I casted cure on Mei and picked her up. I left her at the clock tower and quickly went back to finish my mission. All while thinking:

_That was no doubt Mei's magic… Who is she?_


	4. Chapter 4

**Mei's POV-**

I was six years old when it started. I remember it all too well: my obsession with the supernatural.

The school had a cultural festival and in the kid's theater there was a magic show. The magician could pull rabbits out of hats and saw people in half without forgetting to put them back together. He could pull out colorful handkerchiefs from anywhere and white doves flew from the palms of his white, gloved hands. For a young child, this was all pretty amazing even though in reality, they were all just tricks using optical illusion.

The magician, in one of his tricks, went up to me and went behind my head.

"You haven't seen anything yet," he whispered to me before he pulled out a coin from the back of my ear. He winked and flipped the coin up in the air with his fingers, only for it to disappear in what seemed like thin air.

After the show he came up to my friends and I. He went down on one knee and asked for my name. Once I gave it to him, he took my hand and kissed the back of it like a true prince.

"Miss Mei, if you take one thing from my performance, please take this: a magician never reveals their secrets." With that he pulled a bouquet of flowers from his black hat and departed after giving them to me. His show prompts us young children to never stop believing, but of course, most of the kids in that audience did grow up to disbelieve. His tricks may have been just that, but there is truth to his words.

I wasn't always close with Pence and Olette. When I first moved I had no friends until Hayner came along with all the persistency in the world. Hayner was my first friend and I have to admit my best friend out of the gang. He was the one that helped me to open up and get closer to the others.

Pence got into playing RPG games and convinced me to join him. We traveled to distance lands together with a team of warriors, monsters, and mages to conquer the antagonists of the games.

Olette got into books about vampires, transforming werewolves, and horror ghost stories. Though most of them were romance novels, they were still very good in my childish journey to becoming a magical being.

Hayner, well, he was happily there for the ride with everyone. He brought us out of our secluded hobbies and connected us all. He kept us together all these years. He may seem like an idiotic tyrant at times, but he had earned all of our respects ten times over.

"I'm happy," he said to me when I started to get into learning more of the supernatural with the help of Pence and Olette as well as my Aunt Molly who bought me my first magic kit.

"Why?" I asked him as I put on my own black top hat.

"Because you're finally connecting with the others. You're becoming a little more human." Since I was aiming to learn all I can about magic, Olette and Pence became eager to help me by sharing their hobbies with me. I used to always be to myself and only talk to Hayner energetically, so by opening up myself to others, I have, in Hayner's mind, 'become more human'.

"It's also nice to see you've found a passion."

Magic was my passion, but once I've learned every trick in the book, I wasn't satisfied. It wasn't real magic. I started to slowly lose faith in magic being real as I grew up. The others became disbelievers while I was still hesitant on becoming one. It was still a weird dream of mine to become a wizard or something, but I would never admit that I still had hope to my friends. They would make fun of me if I did. It's childish, but a part of me will always yearn for that ability.

Ever since I met Axel and Roxas, everything has fell out of the normal cycle in my life as if by magic. That feeling of magic drew me to them and it wasn't a mistake. My hunch was right: magic was real, but so are monsters.

The drive, which I have had buried for so long, to learn and excel started to appear again.

Why was I so keen on magic for all these years? I do not know the answer. Something about it draws me in like a moth to a light.

**.**

**.**

I opened my eyes to find that I was floating in nothingness between clouds of light and darkness.

_Am I dead?_

Before I blacked out, I last remembered seeing some Heartless trying to sneak up on Xion and I tried to stop it.

_I feel like a feather just floating here. Actually, I don't feel anything. It's as if I was just standing normally._

I was angled back a bit as if I was just relaxing on a couch. I put my hands around my pendant. The pebble was glowing a yellowish hue.

_This…isn't a normal pendant…_

I clasped my hands over the pendant, the light going through my fingers as I closed my eyes and felt the warmth of the light. That warmth was familiarity, but I could not recall from where.

"Believe."

I gasped as the voice of a young girl sounded throughout my surroundings repeating the same word over and over.

"Believe."

_That voice…it's-_

I sat up in a cold sweat. My eyes darted around, not knowing where I was.

I relaxed my shoulders when I saw that I was just at the clock tower. My throat was dry and I felt exhausted.

_So much for being dead._

"Mei?"

I turned my head to the side to see Xion come over with a plastic bag. "Xion, how did I get here? What happened?"

She kneeled beside me, opening the bag she had. "I brought you here after you fainted." She took out a bottle of water. "Here."

"Thank you…" I took the water and quickly chugged the entire bottle, much to the amazement of Xion. "What happened when I fainted?"

"You saved me from getting hit by a Neoshadow."

"I-I did? I remember seeing it and thinking about how you were going to get hit…then everything gets fuzzy."

She nodded. "Your pendant started to glow and next thing I knew, you had just casted barrier and later stop!"

"Barrier? Stop? Well barrier sounds self-explanatory… Wait! Y-You just said I casted them?!"

"I was surprised too! I was trying to teach you fire not those! You really don't remember it?"

I crossed my legs and rubbed my chin in thought. "It feels like a dream…but I think I can vaguely make it out…"

Xion smiled, taking out two sea salt ice creams. "You were like a natural!"

I blushed lightly, taking one of the ice creams. "Really?"

"If we can get you to remember what you did to cast both barrier and stop, I'm sure we can teach you other spells without any problems!"

I looked at my left hand as I ate with my right.

_I used magic…real magic…_

I balled my left hand.

_I can use magic!_

I grinned childishly as I felt giddy with joy.

"Mei, where did you get your necklace from?"

"This?" I picked up my pendant. "My Aunt Molly gave it to me. She said my parents wanted me to have it. Why?"

"It's not a normal necklace."

I thought back to that weird dream I had where it was glowing.

"I agree. Do you know what it is?"

"Well, I'm not sure if that's a gem or not. It's not an ordinary rock… I'll do some digging back at the Castle That Never Was."

"The Castle That Never Was?"

"That's where the Organization resides!"

"I've never seen a castle around here."

"That's because it's not located on this world. It resides in the World That Never Was."

"…"

"What's wrong?"

"…"

_Did she just say that it's not on THIS world? Meaning there are other worlds full of life?_

"I think I heard you wrong, Xion. Did you just say you live on another world entirely?"

"Pretty much."

"… MAGIC, MONSTERS, PEOPLE WHO CAN FIGHT WITH WEAPONS THAT JUST APPEAR, AND NOW THERE ARE MULTIPLE WORLDS?!"

_Next thing you know animals can talk._

"You never-" Xion covered her mouth. "I wasn't supposed to tell you the existence of other worlds…"

"Too late for that now… Besides, I already know about you guys, so I don't think it matters much, but…wow…there are other worlds…probably different from our little town here."

"Actually, your world is called Twilight Town."

_That's a stupid name for a world, but I can't judge. I wasn't there when the naming committee came by. Though, I guess it makes sense since we're bathed in an eternal twilight._

"This is a lot to take in…"

"Sorry…"

"It's not your fault! It's just a lot for me to try to accept right now. All my beliefs are kind of being shaken up."

I confided in Xion about everything Roxas and Axel have ever told me about their business and my original beliefs.

"It's hard to imagine living like...," Xion started, but couldn't find the right words.

"Living in ignorance?" I finished. Xion nodded in agreement to my answer. "So do you guys have missions in other worlds too?"

"All over. It depends where Saix sends us, but we typically go to one world a day since missions tend to take a while."

"Saix?"

"He's the seventh member and also the second-in-command to our boss Xemnas."

…_I feel like I need to see all of this to believe it._

"Hey, do you think I can join you on your missions now since you're teaching me magic?"

"… I don't see why not. It could be helpful for me to have a second person to help me especially if we can figure out how you used barrier and stop…"

"What's stop?"

"It's when you freeze your enemy in place for a certain amount of time."

_Oh wow, duh. Stop stops the enemies._

"Then we have a partnership!"

We created a meeting place in town where Xion would drop by before her mission to pick me up. Even if I couldn't go with her on a mission, I would meet with her to tell her since we had no other means of communication.

This seemed like the start of my adventure through the universe.

_Are there multiple universes too?_

I ran home after Xion and I said our goodbyes. On my way home, I pretended to shoot fire out of my hands at birds, squirrels, and trash cans. Nothing came out of course, but in my imagination, everything was toast.

"You look awfully happy."

I froze and cranked my head to see Hayner in from of the entrance to the grocery store with a bag in on arm. My face flushed. "Y-You didn't see anything!"

He grinned slyly. "Sure, Mei." He walked over to me and put a hand on my head as I just felt like crying in a corner. "Whatever you say." I ended up walking with Hayner to my house. He said something about wanting to make sure no on messed with me when I was so out of tune with the world. I wasn't that aloof in my own little world.

"What has you so smiley today?" He frowned. "That guy?"

My mood instantly went down a notch when I remembered that I haven't seen Roxas for a few days. "I actually haven't seen him around… I hope he's alright."

"He just left without saying anything?"

"Well he is busy with his work…"

Hayner grumbled, "He should have at least told you what the holdup was. Damn guy, making you all worried."

"What about you Hayner? Any prospects?" I nudged him.

He looked at me then looked away towards the distance ahead in thought. I could faintly see his cheeks flushed. "Girls have cooties."

"I'm a girl."

"You're not a girl."

"Hey!"

"I'm just kidding! Geez." He trapped me in a headlock with his free arm as we walked. "You're more like one of the guys to me like Olette."

"Gee, thanks I guess. Now let me go!"

"No, this is actually pretty comfortable."

"Well that's makes only one of us!"

"Hey…" I looked up at Hayner, surprised at his serious tone. I couldn't see his face well from my angle. "Let's all go play baseball again."

"Because that worked so well the first time."

"Shut up! I just don't want to do nothing and I'd rather have everyone doing something together!"

_I guess I haven't been spending as much time as I used to with the gang since the Organization came into my life…_

"Okay, the day after tomorrow. Let's all play together. I'll bring a new friend I made. She's new to town."

"She?"

I nodded; grinning as he finally let me go. "She'll be pretty quiet and look uninterested, but she listens really well and observes. Once she opens up and sees how great you all are, I'm sure she'll have fun."

"Trying to copy my move, huh?"

_He must be referring to me all those years ago._

I smiled. "Hey, would you judge me if I said I was getting back into magic?"

"I'm not surprised. You've always been so childish."

"Hey!"

"I'm kidding." He winked at me. "Whatever makes you happy, we would all support you one hundred percent!"

**Xion's POV-**

_How am I supposed to tell Mei? She will be upset…_

Before I left the castle, I found out that Roxas was in some sort of coma for a few days already and Saix has no idea when he will be waking up. Not only that, but apparently no one knows who's alive at Castle Oblivion and it's assumed that Axel has been terminated.

_One friend is dead and another is in a coma…how do I tell her that?_

"Xion! Did you wait long?" Mei ran over, fixing her backpack once she got to me.

"No! I-I just…got here…"

"Something wrong? You seem more out of it than usual."

"N-Nothing." She didn't seem to believe me fully, but didn't press me on the topic to my relief. I didn't want to be the cause of my friend's sadness as selfish as it sounds.

"Well, are we here or in another world today! What has ole' Saix prepared for us?"

"Um… We are heading to a world called Wonderland."

"Wonderland…"

_I wonder what that world is like._

I laughed at my own thought.

Xion held her hand out as a portal of darkness appeared. I jumped back in shock.

"W-What? H-How? H-Huh?!"

"This is how we travel around between worlds and in general. It's a fast means of getting to our destinations."

"Portals? Now portals? Reality is just getting more and more unreasonable." I stepped up to the portal feeling the hairs of the back of my necks standing. I gulped. "No time like the present. Let's go."

"Take my hand… It'll be bad if we separate in there since you don't know what's going on and how to use them."

I took her hand and she led me inside. All I saw inside was darkness. I turned my head around to see the portal close behind us and a new one open in front of us. I felt heavy in here as if the air was a little too thick and ominous. Once we got out, I went into a coughing fit as if I have been holding my breath the whole time. Once I calmed down and took in my surroundings, I saw that we obviously weren't in Twilight Town anymore.

"Wonderland…," I mumbled to myself, letting go of Xion's hand as I looked at all the cards and wacky-shaped objects.

_I-I'm actually in another world._

"Mei, make sure you stay hidden as best as you can and if we're seen, act as if we're from this world. Is there anything else… Don't let the existence of other worlds slip to the residents here."

"Why is it so bad for us to know of the existence of other worlds?"

"It'll disrupt the peace in the worlds, or something like that."

_You don't sound like you believe in it._

We went off on Xion's mission to take out some Heartless. We'd take a lot of breaks to figure out how I used magic yesterday, but I gave up at one point because my concentration made it look like I was constipated. I decided to just be like a tourist since I was so amazed at everything. It was like a fairytale world that was projected into young minds to help them become more creative. I was able to drink a potion that made me shrink and I met a doorknob that could talk. A rather rude doorknob, I should add. Nothing about this world screamed out normal to me, but for the residents there, this was the most normal anyone could hope to get.

_I'm not high on drugs…unless someone slipped me something._

There were beautiful mazes of red roses and an outdoor courtroom.

"Any luck?" Xion asked me. I shook my head as we continued to the next area.

_I was just thinking of protecting Xion from the sneak-attack… I can't remember what it felt to make a barrier or anything though._

I looked down at my pendant.

_It seems like my pendant shines when I use magic, so I need to figure out how to get it to glow again._

I thought back to the dream I had where I was floating between light and darkness. There was a child's voice telling me to 'believe'.

_That was definitely my voice when I was younger…_

**FLASHBACK START**

"I don't understand this though, Mei," Olette said to me as I was practicing my magic act with Hayner to perform for the Talent Show.

"You don't have to understand it," I told her, putting my hat on her head. "You just have to believe."

"Believe in magic?"

I nodded. "Not only that, but believe in me and the impossible. We have to believe that things can happen. We're pretty amazing to have the ability to have faith. Just believe or else you won't be able to see. Believe."

**FLASHBACK END**

_I talked as if I knew anything! That's embarrassing to think back on._

I thought more about it.

_Maybe…I was onto something…_

I got off the mushroom I was sitting on and walked over to where Xion was fighting off a bunch of Heartless. I closed my eyes.

_I need to believe in myself that I can do this._

I opened my eyes slowly as I held out my hand.

_I believe in myself and I believe in magic._

I made sure I aimed my hand over to a Heartless that Xion wasn't dealing with yet.

My pendant started to glow as my arm started to light up in streams of red.

I pictured striking the Heartless down with a ball of fire to help Xion.

"Fire!"

A beam of red light came out of my palm and shot out, forming into a ball of fire that hit the Heartless on the mark.

My jaw dropped. I was still surprised that I managed to do what I just did.

"Good job, Mei!" Xion shouted over to me, finishing off the Heartless that I reduced the health of.

I used fire and barrier to help Xion as a support. I may have gotten a little carried away using fire, but come on! I was shooting fire by waving my hand out! We finished Xion's mission with ease and went back to Twilight Town to get our traditional sea salt ice cream and eat it at our favorite meeting spot.

"If we finish early tomorrow, do you want to do something fun?"

"Fun?"

"Baseball!"

"What's that?"

"It's a game where you essentially hit a ball with a wooden stick."

"…"

"Come on, it'll be fun!"

"…"

Somehow I managed to convince her. The next day we went through with another mission, this one in Twilight Town. We were hunting down something called a Commander. I practiced using barrier, fire, and stop more. According to Xion, I was a fast learner.

After defeating the Commander, I dragged Xion to my house where I dressed her up in my old clothes: some old tee and a pair of shorts. I led her out of my house and out to the baseball field where Hayner, Olette, and Pence were waiting.

"P-People?!"

"Oh, I didn't mention we were playing with my friends?"

She glared at me in fear. I just patted her back to comfort her.

"About time you both got here! Go take a lap!" Hayner shouted.

"We were caught up with something. Guys, this is Xion. Xion, that's Olette, Pence, and Hayner."

"Nice to meet you, Xion," Olette said, taking Xion's hand and shaking it.

"The male population in this group is decreasing…," Pence said.

"It's not decreasing. We're just outnumbering you guys," I pointed out.

"Let's stop the chitchat and play some ball! Boys against girls again! We can't lose Pence! Just because they have one more player doesn't mean anything!"

I pulled Olette and Xion over into a huddle. "Don't worry guys, we have a secret weapon on our side. The guys must think that Xion isn't very athletic when really she is. We'll take them by surprise and win this!"

"M-Me? I…don't think I can…"

"Don't worry, Xion," I said, patting her shoulders. "I have faith in you."

"The guys won't know what hit them! Loser buys ice cream, but I say we spring for food also!" Olette said. "They're going down!"

"Ready?" I asked Xion who just nodded uneasily.

We played and like I thought, we won. Xion got a few strikes at first at bat, but got used to it. She ran fast to get the baseball and passed it to us with ease. Watching Hayner get worked up about losing was a plus too.

"You guys are cheaters!" Hayner shouted after the boys bought everyone ice cream and hamburgers.

"Don't be a sore loser Hayner," I said, wrapping an arm over his shoulders. He pushed me off of him in a fit. I laughed it off and took a bite out of my ice cream.

"Xion, you play really well. Are you sure this is your first time?" Pence asked. Said girl nodded shyly.

"She's in really good shape," Olette commented, looking at Xion. "You make me want to work out."

"Why can't Hayner motivate us to exercise more?" I said mockingly to him. "Ack!" He pulled my cheeks, pinching and pulling both of them out. I grabbed ahold of his face and did the same while the others just laughed, aside from Xion who just gave a small smile.

"Why don't you bring that boy you like to hang out with us?" Olette asked. I froze, letting go of Hayner.

"You mean-" I punched Hayner in the gut to let me go and quickly covered Xion's mouth before she could finish.

"SHE KNOWS HIM?!" Olette shouted. "Xion, tell me who Mei has a crush on."

Xion pushed my hand away. "Crush?"

"You know. The guy she wants to date and love and all that good stuff."

"Y-You're embarrassing! Don't answer Xion!"

"…" Xion looked puzzled. She must not understand what love is either like Roxas.

"Look at the time, we should be going now!" I laughed awkwardly, pulling Xion with me away.

"What do they mean you love Roxas?" Xion asked while we were walking to my house hand-in-hand.

"Love is a strong word…but it means that I would like to be more than friends with him…something more…personal?" My face heated up. "But he's been gone for so long that I can't really talk to him about this…"

I felt Xion's hand tighten.

_Is something wrong?_

"Did something happen to Roxas, Xion?"

"I'm…not sure… I'll ask when I get back…"

"Is there a way to ask how Axel is doing too?"

"I'll see… I'm not really positive about what goes on in the Organization XIII."

"Hm… It's okay. Don't beat yourself up over it if you can't find out anything. I'm just worried is all."

**Xion's POV-**

_I have to tell her what's going on with Axel and Roxas._

I stopped by Roxas' room to see for myself his comatose face. It was like he was just sleeping.

_I'll only be hurting her more by delaying it…_

"Mei and I have been getting closer now, Roxas. I met her friends today… She's been worried about you. I've been keeping her mind off of you missing by teaching her magic. She's a natural at it! When you wake up, you'll be mind-blown at how good she has become!"

I had to take over Roxas' missions since he was out, which meant double the work at times if the missions were at two different worlds.

The next day I had two missions, luckily both in Wonderland. I picked up Mei and we went on our way through the corridor of darkness.

"Wonderland looks just like a dreamland to me," Mei said once we stepped foot in the world.

"Nobodies don't dream…"

"Really?!"

"Well, they said we have memories from our Somebody, but I don't get those…"

Mei made a sour face.

As we fought off Heartless and collected items, all I could think of was how I was going to break the bad news to Mei. I didn't want to be blunt about it because human hearts were fragile and I didn't want to jump around it and irritate her. There wasn't a good way to put this.

_Maybe if I space them out…tell one today and another some other day…_

I shook my head.

_That would probably be worse for her. She seems to have a strong enough heart maybe I can just blurt it out._

"That's the last of them in this area," Mei shouted over to me, wiping sweat from her forehead. "This rose garden is so well-kept just like the last time we were here." I put away my keyblade, walking over to her as she sniffed a rose.

"Mei…"

"Yeah?" She looked up at me with that bright smile of hers and light in her eyes that showed my reflection.

_Don't look at me like that…_

She'd probably tell me not to be sad and apologize for something that wasn't my fault, but I still feel guilty.

_I'll just make it sound like l found out today._

"I asked…about the guys…"

Mei's eyes widened in anticipation for my answer. "Tell me."

_No turning back now…_

"Roxas…fell into a coma during one of his missions…"

"…" She just stared at me, trying to process what I said. "…I want to see him." Mei tried to walk past me, but I grabbed her arm and turned her around.

"You can't!" Mei took a step back from my tone. "Um, I mean. It'd be bad if the other members found out about you. I remember Roxas told me that we have to keep you a secret from them to protect you."

"I understand…" Mei's eyes darkened. "Just when I managed to acquire some power I go back to being useless…"

I felt compelled to hug Mei and did so. I've seen people do this to each other a lot when I went to other worlds. Her smile was gone and replaced with a deep frown and her face held so many conflicting feelings that I could never begin to understand. That's just the difference between us, the wall that divides.

"W…What about Axel?" Mei's voice was cracking.

_Oh my… I almost don't want to tell her…_

"Axel…was…"

"Xion?"

"…he was terminated at Castle Oblivion…"

"…What?"

"He's…dead…"

She broke out of my hug and stormed off, mumbling about needing to finish the mission. I couldn't feel, but I know if I could, I would be heartbroken right now. I followed after her, watching over her as she shouted fire spells to the top of her lungs.

"At this rate she's going to start a giant bonfire…"

I jumped into the line of action upon hearing her scream. The flames she created were increasing in intensity from balls of fire to just plain fire sprouting all over. She was a fast-learner all right, but this kind of motivation is cruel.

_Fira…_

It was obvious that she was taking out her feelings on the Heartless to cope with the bomb I placed on her inner world.

Mei picked up a large stick, using it as a medium for her casting. She was dashing forward sloppily with rings of fire around her, erupting fire from the ground like it was a geyser, and setting Heartless on fire and letting them burn. She was using skills even I can't name for lack of my own knowledge. Her emotions were getting out of hand now.

"There're gone." I said, tackling Mei to the ground as I casted blizzard to put out the fires. "No more for today…we're done with the mission."

Mei was face down on the ground and I was on her back making sure she couldn't get back up. She balled her fists over the grass, trying to curl her body as best as she could from underneath me. I lifted myself up to let her do as she wished. She curled up into the fetal position, but with both of her hands pulling on the grass. Her hair hid half her face, only allowing me to see her teeth gritting. Her shoulders trembled and her breathing hitched.

She was trying her hardest to keep herself together, especially in front of me, but she was failing to. I rubbed her back.

"Let's go home," I whispered to her.

I brought Mei home and sat at the foot of her bed as she cried as softly as she could. I hugged my knees to me as Mei hugged a stuffed bear to her.

_She thinks she's useless, but I feel just as useless in this situation. My friend is in a pain that I can't properly understand, another is in a coma, and someone who could have been my friend left us before I could meet him._

As the days passed on, Mei either came with me on missions or went off with her friends. Sometimes she even took me with her to play with her friends after our missions. She was still affected by the bad news, but that just brought her closer to me. She would often tell me that she was thankful that I was safe and sound.

I taught Mei cure, blizzard, and thunder since that incident with fire spells in Wonderland. Mei even got to see two new worlds: Halloween Town and Agrabah. I've been working on building her endurance and overall physical aptitude since it was rather poor before.

Mei made a weird new tradition for us to do and that was to pick up a souvenir from each mission we went on so that I could give it to Roxas on behalf of the both of us. Mei figured shells would be a good souvenir since they wouldn't rot away and in some, you could hear sounds of the ocean. She even got me fascinated with them.

"Let's get out of this heat! I think I hate this world the most out of the others I've been to," Mei grumbled, fanning herself. "Let's go to a world this time with better weather."

I tried to think of a world that wasn't too hot. "I guess we could go there…"

I summoned a portal for Olympus Coliseum. Mei took my hand in hers as we walked in.

"The darkness in here kind of gives me the creeps. Like something is just waiting to pop out," Mei commented as we were walking. "They're really convenient though."

"It doesn't bother me much."

"Hey, do you have any memories of your Other?"

"No…"

"I wonder sometimes if I've ever met everyone's Others before… I also wonder if I originally came from Twilight Town because I only just moved there, but I can't really remember from where I moved. I feel like I moved a lot when really it was just once. I just moved from another part of my world, right? When I think of when I first met my Aunt Molly, it's hazy. I mean, I was probably five so my memory wasn't the best. She lived here, but I remember hearing the ocean when I was first brought into her custody… Maybe she lived somewhere else and we just moved elsewhere for better job opportunities, but were those moves between worlds?"

"You think pretty deeply about these things."

I nodded. "It feels like I have all the time in the world to think."

"Don't you ever think of your mortality?"

"My…mortality?" Mei frowned. "I'm still young. I have a lot of years left, so why should I spend them dreading some death years from now?"

"I guess you're right…"

_I wonder if Nobodies age…_

As we were making our way out of the corridor of darkness, I spotted Xigbar finishing his mission.

_Oh no!_

I looked at Mei who seemed to have noticed Xigbar as well. I couldn't let Mei be seen and in the moment, I somehow believed this was the safest option. I let go of Mei's hand while she was still inside the portal.

Both of our eyes widened upon realizing what I have just done. The portal closed and Xigbar came over to me after sensing my portal's presence.

**Mei's POV-**

The exit closed and I was trapped inside the corridor of darkness.

I sweated and scratched my head upon realizing the full extent of my situation.

"Xion told not to be alone in here…"

_Would staying put even make a difference?_

I decided it was best for me to stay where I was. I sat down, waiting for Xion to come back for me.

_That guy I saw must be one of her coworkers…_

I looked around and saw only darkness in shades of dark grey, purple, and black.

_If I can figure out how to use these…can I see Roxas? I know Xion said it would be dangerous for me to be up and about their headquarters when I shouldn't even know all of this…but I need to see him…_

My heart ached painfully. I've been doing my best to suppress my pain and grief over Axel and Roxas so I wouldn't worry my friends and my aunt, but no one was here now. I was all alone.

I wasn't okay.

I gasped and fell from my sitting position on the ground to the side. I grasped the clothes over the area where my heart was. It felt like my heart was being strangled and air was getting knocked out of me.

"W-What is this?" I tried to pull myself up, but I felt like I was being consumed.

_I need to get out of here!_

My pendant started to glow and I took that as my cue to use magic to figure a way out.

_I may not know how to use the corridor of darkness, but I can just make my own portal my own way._

I used all the strength I had to get up onto my feet and charge forward, holding my hand out with just the thought of getting out of here and into a world. Any world would do as long I was out of here.

My pendant glowed brighter as a tear in the darkness appeared. I barrel-rolled through the tear and landed on something warm. As the pain slowly subsided I opened my eyes, not remembering when I closed them.

I smelled sea salt and not the ice cream kind.

_Warm…_

I looked up to see a clear blue sky. Once the pain in my chest fully left me, I found the strength to sit up.

_Sand…_

There was sand all over my clothes and in my hair as well as my arms. I turned my head from the sand to see a vast, sparkling ocean under the rays of the sun.

_This isn't Twilight Town…this isn't my world…_

I thought about what I told Xion.

_This isn't where I've lived up until now._

The light from my pendant was gone now and there was no knowledge of magic I had that could get me back home, but this was much better than being stuck in that suffocating portal. I never told Xion, but I always felt like I was being attacked whenever we were in the corridor almost as if the darkness was trying to consume me.

I pulled myself up, dusting off the sand from my navy tank top, gray cardigan, and camouflage shorts. My hair was probably a mess right now and the sea breeze wasn't making it any better. I took off my sneakers and socks, leaving them where I was previously sitting so I could make my way to the ocean. As I stepped one foot at a time into the small waves, I felt a sense of nostalgia. I went knee deep and stopped. I closed my eyes as I tried to concentrate on the breeze on my skin and through my hair as well as the water level on my legs. I wanted to feel something other than emotional pain.

**FLASHBACK START**

"You will be staying with your aunt, Mei," said a male's voice lovingly to me. His appearance was foggy in my memories, but I could tell this man cared for me a great deal.

I looked from him to a young woman with brown hair and emerald green eyes. She flinched upon meeting my gaze.

I took a step up to her after being encouraged to by my male companion.

My aunt bent down to my eye level. "From now on we'll be living together Mei. You can call me Aunt Molly!"

I was told that she was my only blood relative left which meant she was all I had. I wrapped my arms around her neck, tackling her in a hug as I cried into her shoulder. She seemed tense at first but then melted into me and wrapped her arms around me. She picked me up, swaying and rubbing my back.

"You have a week to get your affairs in order before we transport the both of you to a new, safer location. I will handle paperwork for the new location," the man said making his way to leave the house we were in.

"W-Wait! You're just going to leave us here!"

"You have been chosen to watch over her and keep her safe. Her safety is our highest priority."

"What about mine? Y-You just threw this all at me! Worlds and wars and all that other stuff! Her previous caregivers died!"

"…that was an unforeseen attack on her life. The place you two will be taken to will be remote from their eyes. You both will be safe… You have agreed to the terms already and you know the risks. Are you pulling out already?"

"… After seeing her… I can't really back out... I did have some second thoughts, but I know I'm making the right decision in my gut. This child…needs someone to be there for her in her life. I can't imagine a child like this growing up all alone." She hugged me to her tighter.

"One week."

**FLASHBACK END**

_The air smelled just like this back then too._

I remembered a memory from my hazy past when I was first brought over to my last blood relative.

_Who was that man…?_


End file.
